Chuunin Uzumaki
by Vadaes
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures, or so they say. A decision to promote someone is more than a recognition, it is a placing of burden on some young and inexperienced shoulders. It may not be pretty, but the village needs two new chuunin to lead its newest generation and Tsunade has to make a choice. History takes another course and a certain genin is very excited.
1. Prologue - Considering the Circumstances

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

 **Prologue - Considering the Circumstances**

There is a great continent somewhere, its lands diverse and odd, the people dangerous and cunning. Happily adapting to the scorch of the deserts or the merciless sea, humanity has eked out an existence in spite of all the dangers mundane or otherwise that the place has thrown at them. A glancing look at life there would suggest the credit for such persistence is due the emergent great and powerful Elemental Nations, with armies of samurai to fend off any wild giant animals, to maintain order, to keep each other as well as the smaller realms in check. If one wishes to be fair, some credit truly is due to them.

But the lion's share of the work, be it dealing with the extraordinary dangers of the world or the ferocity of fellow humans, has fallen to others. After an age of battling amongst themselves, shinobi have eventually come to form the bodies that allowed humans to fully master their world – ninja villages under the leadership of Kage, in vague and mostly technical vassalage to the feudal lords of their respective nations. They worked tirelessly and on a level far above regular people or even the chakra-trained samurai, allowing their new homes to prosper and their nations to be safe amidst deadly wonders.  
Five among them were the most powerful, and of that five, the first to emerge was Konohagakure, the Hidden Leaf.

A village hidden amongst the leaves. A strange name, isn't it? Clouds, mist, even the ever moving dunes of sand or the stony labyrinth of the mountains make sense for hiding a settlement of ninja. But all the leaves ever hidden were individuals, not their actual village, which stood in a perfectly known, visible location, proudly stating it was there, and that there it was to stay. Perhaps it is that quality which made it such a remarkable place, home to so many legends past and current, a place and a people whose daring stubbornness was enough to defy common sense and smack it right in its ugly, necessary-evil-laden face every now and then.

Appropriately there were plenty of notables throughout its history who fit that idea perfectly, and above all else its leaders in one way or other always had that quality about them. First and foremost was of course the First Hokage Senju Hashirama, known for being immensely powerful, a wielder of a power unseen since, a man with wicked political insight and a capacity for persuasion, but when it comes down to it, also a man with a reputation for being a loud buffoon. He made good use of that, but what he was known for was a simple, earnest goodwill. The Second could not have been more different in character from his brother, but he too was a man of passion and stout conviction. More mild in manners, but every bit as brazen were the Third and Fourth, daring to hope for a better, more peaceful future, one with the guts to be just a little bit weak in the hopes that words could bring the peace jutsu could not, the other ruthless when he had to be but someone with the wisdom and kind heart to only use his strength for the protection of his family, village and homeland.

Amongst the many, many tales about the many heroes possessed of such guts and daring, there is one that this story is about. Well, in all fairness the one this story is about is probably the one with the most stories dedicated to him. In some tales he could have merely had red hair more appropriate for his ancestry, in others perhaps he received majestic eyes of legend by a strange quirk of genetics or fate, some other tales recorded a few details like in what era was he born, who his masters and teachers were or how certain key events of his life played out differently.  
This is one such story among many, focusing on a certain boy, soon to be a man, and those closest to him. This one spurs off from the most recited tale most visibly at a key junction of many lives in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, in days filled with mourning, tension and insecurity. Such times will inevitably tax a village's ability to run the daily errands, make decisions shortly and swiftly, with a pressing need to defend itself and repair the damage after an attack they failed to foresee.

As such, while this story will indeed focus on the adventures of a select group of people, will certainly aim to have action, romance, drama, the occasional musing on a subject or three with big and hopefully exciting goings on, it does in fact begin in a stuffy office reduced to a jungle of paperwork, the frustrations of its new occupant, the burdens of bureaucracy and a simple decision springing from it all.

* * *

Lady Senju Tsunade was not a happy woman. There were numerous reasons for this, generally as well as specifically. Let's not get bogged down in the life issues of a chronically unlucky gambler, an unparalleled medical genius with haemophobia, or someone who has lost too many people too close to her to let the fact ever ease up on her conscience without assistance from a bottle.

The reasons for her unhappiness in this specific moment were more manageable, down-to-earth. To be precise, they had to do with the fact that well before noon she's already been up and hard at work for nine hours (a fate she regarded none but the greenest of genin and anyone directly working under her were suited to), engaged in an uphill bureaucratic battle to merely assess Konoha's forces and current state.  
This led to the next factor of unhappiness, with an extra flavour of guilt attached – the mercenary city state she's been entrusted with has clearly seen better days, even before Orochimaru's attack. There'd be many things to discuss with her old Sensei if she had the chance just one more time, but a lot of that would consist of giving the old geezer an earful about making some common sense decisions. Age had got to the man, clearly, and let the effort to further international détente be damned. Especially if it led to your death in the middle of an attempted invasion by some upstarts and aided by your closest supposed ally, with a Tailed Beast almost left free to roam about in the middle of the village to work out its frustrations about humanity and our tendency to seal it and its kind.

Since it was unlikely she'd be granted an audience with the dearly departed, she set that train of thought aside and focused on the work. Things were looking harsh indeed. Fifteen per cent of the forces were outright killed in the battle, another five received injuries too critical to recover from and much of the rest were clearly not going to operate at the top of their game for a good while. The village has practically rolled over, shown its soft underbelly to the rest of the ninja world and may as well have been begging for someone to come in and finish the job, with a great deal of pointy metal objects involved. There were a lot of potential candidates for that.  
Speaking of pointy metal, the village's weapons supply was dented significantly, and the medical and other supplies weren't much better off. This was not unknown to the village; some of the very dull but indispensable people in the administration would be happy to present anyone willing to listen with links between such shortages and the greatest conflicts of the age looming on the horizon. Well, they would have, if there wasn't such a high civilian death toll during the festivities and the remaining officials weren't sweating blood trying to put the village's affairs into order. And that was just the most mundane of troubles. The panic that erupted during and after the battle led to considerable property damage – clans were reporting valuable historic property as missing, the sheer damage of the attacks and techniques fired off in the assault would take the better part of a year to recover, and when the Uzumaki brat and his team fought the Sand Jinchuuriki, thankfully outside of the village boundaries, they destroyed a large area of lush forest to boot.

At least that last bit was fairly normal. The one thing Tsunade reckoned was more nerve-wrecking a job than being the Hokage was probably being a proud, beautiful pine or mighty oak tree, at any given time possibly seconds away from being blown up by a stray explosive tag, uprooted by a massive chakra-enhanced gale of wind, suddenly find the soil it lived off of turned to sand, or any number of other nasty things. Ninja _liked_ a good old fashioned fight in the woods. She hoped against hope there was no such thing as reincarnation because she knew exactly what someone with as many things on her conscience as her would come back as, especially given her ancestry. Just in case she preferred to fight in the open, with the added bonus that the lack of cover was a nice little advantage.

All in all, the situation was dire. The report clearly prioritized the most immediate and pressing concerns, with the longer term impact still to be determined. Looking at the pile of immediate files to authorise so that the village can begin to spring back up, at the speech she was soon to give to the elders and clan heads, at all the policies to draft to appropriately respond to the crisis, Tsunade vowed to herself that the next time she'll see Jiraiya she'd make him suffer, even worse than that time in the in the baths. Back then it was mainly the principle of the thing, whereas now she felt getting a bit more personal. And this was just her second day on the job.

To take her mind off of petty vengeance she buried herself further into the endless sea of documents. By and large the climate between villages was at its usual tenseness, everyone watching everyone else for openings, but keeping their peace for now. Orochimaru's move was the first in years to really shake the status quo, in its wake leaving a weakened Leaf and Sand, but the Sound also having expended far too much in the way of resources for a failed invasion attempt, especially for a small and new village. As the new player on the ground refusing to pay their dues to those with seniority, the current tone was mockery of their failure, judgement of their aggression, and on the part of Konoha's traditional rivals, a degree of barely veiled annoyance that the new player did not reduce the Leaf into a sandy crater.  
After the initial weakness, Konoha now simply had to step up and mount a proper response. Between Sensei's death and Tsunade's taking the mantle the village elders and clan leaders, even some of the more seasoned of Jounin were speaking less and less of rebuilding and more and more of retaliation. All fine and dandy, but such things did not happen just by themselves, not if you were in the state Konoha was now in. You needed to properly get going again, inspire confidence in potential allies, build up momentum you lost, make damn sure no one would get you in the back while attacking and only then make your moves.

To do all that, she needed manpower. People had to be called back from comfortable early retirements, long-term but non-essential missions had to be cancelled, and valuable experts in cushy positions had to be sent back to the field. All dignified jobs, of course, and a look at the first mission reports to make it to her desk has clearly shown that most of the old guard very much enjoyed being called back, even if for a little while. It did strain the village's bureaucracy and belayed some important decisions, however, as lacking a proper place to go, all these decisions inevitably floated upwards, into her pile. The funds or the new irrigation system for instance have long left the coffers and the materials were coming, but the work shifts of the labourers were yet to be arranged in any form besides the most general of ideas and the man responsible for sorting that out had an unfortunate meeting with a stray kunai. Routine correspondence with the Daimyo was getting nowhere, with info too important to trust to birds and all the runners pulling extra shifts as it was. For another matter many of the examiners for the Chuunin Exam were injured in the initial attack on the arena, and those who didn't were now out on missions so their recommendations never reached the emergency council. Their lengthy analysis still occupied enough space on Tsunade's desk to make her miss the days of simple field promotions – if it was good for her generation, it ought to be good enough for everyone else, right?

One would expect a mercenary city-state of ninja with magical abilities to be willing to leave formalities and pointless red tape to the side, but sadly one finds out quickly that you don't get to be a major power and a _successful_ mercenary city-state of ninja with magical abilities without proper organisation, which brings regulation, and that opens up the floodgates for bureaucracy. In the face of all that, she briefly delighted herself with the prospect of sending out all the pencil pushers to doing some low-grade missions, however certain it wouldn't happen. She needed to shake the Leaf back into shape, step up operations even, gather funds, send a message of an unbroken village.

It was all perfectly doable, but left some questionable areas open. The Academy, for instance, was full of knowledgeable and skilled shinobi, but taking them out to offset a problem now would make things much worse in the long run.  
The current body of jounin sensei presented a similar question. She definitely needed them on missions, but without them the genin would only really be allowed to waste their time on simple D rank missions, something she was intending on having the Academy student body take over with. The Uzumaki brat's cohort being what it was and the various clan skills at play in that lot this would simply not be acceptable.

The Chuunin Exam where the whole mess started was of course an opportunity, and finally a problem she felt like she could unravel if she just pulled at the right thread. The very point of the Exams was to find the right genin to advance into the ranks of the small unit commanders, and if she had a good one, at least this problem could be solved. Under chuunin of appropriate skill the current genin could go on C-, maybe even as high as B-rank missions, pulling their weight for the village and gaining some proper experience. She barely had time to skim over the examiner's reports, but their recommendation was a single promotion, that of Shikamaru Nara. She had her fair share of experiences of working with members of the clan, and the report on the boy's abilities itself looked promising enough, but if she was going to pull off what she wanted, one new chuunin just was not going to cut it for that large a group.

What was she to do? Clearly some flexibility was called for if she wasn't to bottleneck the development of the youngest generation of the village. Of course at the centre of the question was Naruto's bunch. Older genin teams were experienced enough to handle themselves under any run-of-the-mill chuunin or even just go by themselves on a tougher mission or two if push came to shove. She could sell that to whatever council oversaw this sort of thing who would doubtless harass her sometime in the future, if only to justify their own existence. But that was the experienced genin, those who have seen over a year of proper action, and those whose jounin could be spared. But with this lot, you clearly had a lot of potential best not squandered, and a lot of political swing behind some of them, should something go amiss on assignment. Then Hokage or not, the clan heads would be on her ass like nobody's business, which did no favours for her wish for a show of strength.

She began leafing through the folder of those genin involved. The files included an overview of each team, the members and a play-by-play of the final matches, right next to the notes Shizune dug up on the preliminary matches. The performance on the exams and a few notes from the instructors hardly gave a perfect picture, but it was a start. To make her idea work, Tsunade needed at least two chuunin who would be in charge and push the rest so that the next time around she could promote some of the more promising ones. By that time the new greenhorns would be out of the Academy, so give 'em a couple of months with their instructor jounin, temporarily transfer them under a new chuunin who by then would have some good amount of experience. This should free up the bigger name and most skilled jounins who could carry important missions by themselves or with a minimal crew, hopefully with the occasional opportunity to reunite them with their old teams.  
Thinking up the best way of building up your army with practically child soldiers was truly depressing. But the alternative was even worse, so Tsunade resigned herself that she'd have to commit that little cruelty, promising to herself that at least she'd commit the resources needed to make them as safe and as well commanded as possible up-front. It would take a lot, and would consume some of her best not being on missions for a time, but that was a price she was willing to pay.  
The only decision she'd yet have to make was just who it would be who would command the genin.

By the look of things, the Nara kid was precisely what a by-the-books examiner would be looking for. Abilities suited to support the team, an analytical approach, willingness to let others charge in ahead and knowing how to plan for just that. She could see that he'd take to the job like ducklings to water, with the appropriate kick in the backside every now and again. Getting him to a point where she'd really trust him to keep the unit assigned to him safe would take a lot of kicking, but he'd get there.

What she needed to add here was a counterpart, a contrast to the leading style that would naturally come to the Nara.  
There are those who lead from the back, but likewise those who lead as a figurehead, taking on dangers in the defence of others. It was somewhat morbid and insulting to the poor kid who just earned a promotion, but thinking back to when her own team became unit leaders, there was a need for people like Orochimaru who could outsmart anything and treated the battle like a competition or game, as well as people like Jiraiya or herself who preferred to lead from the front, cheer their own and frighten the enemy with, if she was honest with herself, big dumb flashy moves that ultimately did the same job as poisoning the enemy's soldier pill supply before the battle. But the big dumb flashy move, the cheer and elation of honest victory just felt far better, damn it, and it did wonders for morale. Then of course after a few years of experience one realises it does not have to be one of the other, and people of one type can really surprise you with ideas or moves taken from the other. Occasionally you'd have people like the Fourth, who would know precisely when and where to strike, with such a force that his enemies were still struggling to rebuild from it decades later.

Regardless of where his future development might take him, Tsunade could see there was little danger of the Nara becoming an Orochimaru, who treated not only battle, but everything else in life a morally weightless competition. But he did, Tsunade was thinking, need a Jiraiya of his own, someone to inspire and keep the troop spirit alive, someone to be a contrast and a bright spot.

To be fair, she didn't jump to the first and obvious conclusion following that train of thought. She has given each participant who made it to the tournament due consideration.  
The Hyuuga would hopefully live down his issues, and his match went a good way to ensuring just that. After the preliminary fight against his cousin one should expect some more trouble coming from him, but a certain bright spot came along and kicked some sense into him.  
The Uchiha's lateness may have been Kakashi's influence, but it was hardly a good sign to start with. An even less positive sign was that he definitely looked like the sort to eventually end up like Orochimaru unless sufficient preventative action was taken – with the difference that Orochimaru's obsession that twisted him was science, pursuit of knowledge, of all ninjutsu, and wishing to prevent his own death. The Uchiha was in danger of being twisted by something even worse, if a bit more understandable, vengeance on the killer of his clan. Throw in the fact that on several occasions he's become emotionally unstable if the reports in his file were accurate, and Mitarashi's examination of the scenes after Stage 2 of the Exam and the forests where Team Seven fought Gaara suggested he's started to rely on the Curse Mark. Tsunade shuddered to think what someone as messed up as Orochimaru with something as ridiculously powerful as a Sharingan could do. Definitely a 'no' on his promotion. Still, it was not all bad. Kakashi mentioned a friendly rivalry with a certain bright spot, and Tsunade hoped that they might end up as better than how her teammates did.  
The Aburame's preliminary match was very promising, but he didn't make it into the finals by virtue of enemy attacks ending the exams, and he was not suited to be a contrast to the Nara, with a quiet, ponderous personality that just plain old lacked the buzz she was after for the type of leader in mind. Still, he was definitely one to watch next time around.

This left one Konoha genin besides the Nara to fight in the final round. This one employed some unconventional tactics both in his preliminary and tournament matches, improvised techniques, managed to get a miraculous second wind from a source obvious to all above a certain age and used it to enhance his speed, strength and perception enough to counter the fabled Kaiten, which all turned out to be a feint that ultimately won him the match.  
During his own and other preliminary matches he was a loud nuisance but managed to rally the people he wanted to, and his contribution to the fights on the day of the attack was following an enemy Jinchuuriki, summoning none other than Gamabunta and taking out said Jinchuuriki. Instead of killing or injuring him, the two had a talk, which apparently caused Gaara to become more stable, and as one of the biggest assets in the Sand, he was now pushing to normalise relations with the Leaf, surprising the village elders who only thought of him as a single minded killer freak before.  
On a side note this Konoha genin also managed to impress the Hokage candidate, and convinced her to actually take the job. He reminded her of her little brother, shared her lover's dream, and had Jiraiya's annoying, but admirable tenacity. He managed to dislodge her from the mental slump she was in for decades and reminded her of the Will of Fire.

And in doing so he unwittingly handed her far more responsibility, headaches and paperwork than she knew how to resolve, than damned little brat. The least she could do to pay him back was to hand him some of his own, get him a small taste of the job he so hankered for, even if she had to talk Jiraiya into delaying his plans for him a few months. Problem was, the kid also had his share of deficiencies, which had to be hammered out before she could trust him with commanding teams. But then the same went to the Nara, once you looked beyond his obviously suitable qualities.

She made the decision, knowing that before the day was done Kakashi and Asuma would curse her name. Be as it may, she was certain this would benefit the village in the long run, but for now the thing she looked forward to most was the faces of a select few individuals when they first learned of this. Not quite as good as the few times she won big at gambling, that would come later, but even this early little payoff was almost there.


	2. Two steps forward, one sideways

**Chapter 1 - Two steps forward, one sideways**

Nara Shikamaru was doing his favourite thing in the world, that is to say nothing at all. Ino was off on some clan ceremony or other and Chouji has finally resigned himself to train with his father, so even if he wanted to, Shikamaru would not have disrupted his friends. They did have a morning training session all together, cut short by a messenger for Asuma, and that was enough activity for a nice and idyllic day like this as far as he was concerned. Nothing else to do but to hang out on the roof where busier people would not notice him or give him chores to do, watch the clouds and let his mind wander. Joy.

Sadly, the world has a way of spotting blissful uselessness and invented women, especially mothers to hunt it down and eradicate it. Making sure he left no evidence behind when she went up to look for him, getting out of dodge with perfect soundlessness, climbing away from danger and making sure no creaky floor boards betrayed him, no nosy neighbour saw him, all of that was a tougher stealth exercise than anything else Asuma has bothered him with before. The downside of which was that honed skills and senses and a cleverness this way or other, he did make a schoolboy error and focused too much on avoiding just one dangerous element, running straight into another, right when he was about to make his final escape. The warm, fatherly hand on his shoulder was quick and heavy, decades of fighting made sure even the most casual of grips was iron tight. An unusually upbeat call from the head of the Nara household signalled to his mother that the two of them would be leaving.

There went Shikamaru's plans or relocating to a park or one of the evacuated sections of town in the hopes of being left alone for his cloud-gazing. Still, as they marched through the busy streets, dodging the occasional hurried runner and letting by beasts of burden laid heavy with materials for the repair work, he could count on his father to not burden him nearly as much as his mother would. Probably a shougi match or maybe there was some clan training to do like Choui, and a single glance at some civilians trying to lift a shop sign back up to its proper place reminded Shikamaru that he could have it much worse. In any case, he could find solace in the fact that no bossy women telling him to do more things were in store for him for the rest of the afternoon.  
As things went, he probably got away pretty easy.

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was also doing his favourite thing the world, that is to say treating himself to ramen at Ichiraku's and catching up with Iruka sensei. There was certainly a lot to tell. The first order of business was a blow by blow description of his fights against Neji and Gaara, accompanied by heartfelt and stall-endangering re-enactments of the bigger moves and punches.

Iruka listened on with awe at the progress Naruto has made since the time he graduated, finding himself awash with pride. There was no doubt about it; he was sharing a meal with a fully-fledged shinobi of the Leaf, however loud. He's never known Naruto to lie and even when he exaggerated the way all children and rookies tend to, it was always obvious, yet it was hard to resist disbelief at some of the details. His student going on a trip with Jiraiya-sama to find the new Hokage? Had he not seen him in the group as they returned, he would have had a hard time believing that.

Harder still to believe was Naruto's claim that he had learned one of the Fourth's signature moves from Jiraiya himself, or that he finally executed it against Kabuto himself, a man who could challenge both Kakashi and Tsunade-sama herself. Perhaps some of that doubt managed to show in his expression, perhaps Naruto was eager to show off, but the question was erased when Naruto flooded his hand with chakra, enough for it to be visible in a bright orange sphere, spinning and shredding the air straying into it. Iruka shuddered to think what it must have done to Kabuo's insides, or what technique he had to do to survive an assault by that thing.  
And this was a child to whom he struggled to explain even the concept of chakra last year, who passed theoretical as well as physical tests by the skin of his teeth, who failed to so much as perform a proper transformation. He was creating, right in front of his eyes, the single most complex and powerful technique Iruka has ever seen.

"So" Iruka asked with some apprehension and guilt at his own failure as an educator, and some serious motivation to push for better methods at the Academy "how long did you say Jiraiya-sama taught you the technique?"

"'Bout three weeks." The boy lifted his face out of his meal just enough to flash one of his toothy, wide grins. "But really, Ero-sennin didn't do that much, just gave me some stupid balls to work with. He said I gotta work it out on my own. I did all the real hard stuff myself!"

Iruka may have been a good man with a difficult life and some deep regrets about the things he used to believe about his student with a fate all too similar to his own. His talents as a ninja may have been on the limited side of good. But one thing in which he was truly exceptional, where he had senses sharper than any instrument, honed to perfection by years of teaching, was the detection of all things perverse and improper.

He has heard some unkind things about one of the greatest legends of the village, but dismissed them without a thought as malicious rumours and perhaps misinterpreted fragments of the life a truly great spy must live, meeting with various informants under the strangest of covers. His own career as shinobi may not have had that glamour, but surely the best of the best got the flashiest of missions too, right? Naruto's nickname for the man however was a bad sign; he could all but feel the picture of the legendary teacher of the Fourth crumble.  
With a small gulp, he decided to be a man, face his worries and push on.

"Ero-sennin? Why do you call Jiraiya-sama that?"

"'Cause he's the biggest damn pervert I've ever seen!"

Iruka was sure to maintain a smile as Naruto gave a deep account of the man's misdeeds. Boozing and dubious female companionship were unforgivable on their own right, but to hear that the grand legend has done that on Naruto's own money had Iruka's eye twitching. Learning that he almost let two S-class criminals kidnap two of his students while off… having fun let him practically feel his own faith in legends fade away and die.

"… He's not all bad, though. Don't tell him I said it but…" Naruto never finished the sentence.

Iruka blinked. Did he imagine the briefest flash of a white mane? Was that cheap perfume in the air?  
Jiraiya's legend may have been dead for Iruka, but the skill to approach and grab a genin with a seasoned chuunin barely noticing a second later, that at least spoke of the man's skills.  
Ichiraku was unfazed by the sudden rush of air and a completely absent Naruto, and handed Iruka his student's bill with a meaningful look.

* * *

Two young men were seated before the new Hokage in her office, both flanked by figures of high authority.  
She looked down at them, framed by towers of documents on either side, flanked by her chief advisors.

"So, am I in trouble, or what?" Shikamaru felt the need to ask the question after a few seconds of uncomfortable quiet. Sheepishly he glanced over to Naruto.

"Whatever it is I didn't do it! Just ask Iruka-sensei I was with him the whole time! It's been months since I pulled a prank!" Naruto looked rather annoyed as he presented his defence against the unknown.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. The kids both tried to put on a calm face, but before ninja who each have worked longer than their lifetimes combined, they might as well have been actively fidgeting.  
"To my knowledge there have been no major pranks committed in the village for a long time, and the only one I personally suffered was by the youngest Sarutobi who decided to, ahem, test the vigilance of his grandfather's successor. Since that incident the young man has been encouraged to spend any excess energies on more useful activities. I hear the fixing crews welcomed his contributions with appropriate cheer." Her statement made Naruto wince a bit, but the genin seemed to breathe easier.

"No, the reason I called you both here is somewhat more official than correcting minor behaviour issues. The attack after the Chuunin Exams claimed a lot of lives, and the village must not appear weak in front of the others. If anything, we must step up our activity in missions and as such I am going to need every capable hand in the village to do its best at the best place. This includes the current genin, they will be more useful in missions more critical than simple D- or C-rankers. With most of them, this is not an issue. They've been active for a long time and know the score, but your group is still at a critical point. As you might have noticed, it is not often that a single year produces so many specialist skills or have so many clans invested in their future all at once. There is much promise here, but at such a strained time when resources are needed so badly, there is also a risk of those skills and talents wasting away. Genin of your age still need guidance, someone to defend them should it be needed, and someone to look up to. Your Jounin Sensei are excellent, but from now on they will have to divide their time between doing solo missions and helping you develop for missions of your own. There is a need for that gap to be filled by worthy shinobi. By whatever odd circumstances, you two are those who currently have the best chance of becoming those suited for that role. Both of you had an excellent showings in your matches during the Exam." The kids looked up at this, one with barely contained excitement, the other with a fairly good façade of mild interest.

Tsunade stood up, walked to the genin.  
"Both of you have good potential, but also some very deep flaws. I have already briefed your instructors on the matter, and they have agreed to step up your training regimen to get you to the standards required by your new rank and to the point where I can be secure you won't botch things up too badly if I entrust your comrades' lives into your care and judgement. You are to report to them in training area twenty in the morning."

She held out her hands, and two guards handed her two packages, which she in turn gave to the two young men in front of her.  
"You are hereby awarded the rank of chuunin, with all the responsibilities and privileges that rank entails. You are to continue serving the village to the best of your ability, now as a unit commander. Should you mess up, nothing on this planet will protect you from my intense and very personal wrath. Now scram, I have a lot of paperwork to do."

* * *

After some congratulatory words, Jiraiya and Shikaku patted both newly minted chuunin on the back and headed for a drink or twelve. One did so because in Naruto's experience that's what he generally tended to do. The other, from Shikamaru's experience took the opportunity to sneak by his mother the crime of having some fun, making the young Nara wonder whether it was stranger that people drank alcohol or that they got married. Both seemed like a drag, he concluded.

"You know, the funny thing is that with our promotion they could have invited us to join them."Shikamaru observed as his father and some old man in a horrible outfit happily departed.

"Really? How do you know that?"

"Sometimes I get bored of clouds and watch people." Shikamaru said, shrugging. "It gets dull though. All most seem to do is work, eat and drink."

"Hey, nothin' wrong with enjoying a good meal y'know!" Naruto was quick to answer before going on to ask. "Do we get to do anything cool? Besides the missions, I mean? I don't really feel any different than when I was a genin."

"Don't ask me. And why should you feel different as a chuunin than as a genin?"

"'Cause I did when I got to be genin, so I figured… y'know it would be the same? Maybe it takes some time to kick in. Like it does with the stuff they went off to drink?"

"I wouldn't know about that. One time my father offered some to me, but forgot my mother was there too. The whole thing was troublesome."

"And Ero-sennin tells me shinobi aren't allowed to do it anyway… except the chuunin?" Naruto asked, scratching his face, confused. "Plus he too drank it all the time, and it made him stupid. Same with a client we had."

"You had to work with a client in person before?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and looked at his old classmate as they slowly walked down the main street. "All we've had besides the D-rank stuff was guard duty where we stayed at a post for a couple of days. Nothing much happened. I've been hoping most missions are like that."Shikamaru finished off wistfully.

"Wow, that sounds boring."

"Peaceful, more like. What did you have?"

"Mostly D-ranks, but we had a really big one just before the Exam!" Naruto was excited to return to storytelling. People rarely listened to him, so he always tried to make the best of it. Unfortunately he never had companionship enough to practice the skill of spinning a tale, and when the rare chance presented itself, his eager retelling was on the unregulated side even for Shikamaru to make sense of.

"There was this mean old drunk guy I told you about, and he was a bridge builder from a poor village in the Country of Waves. He wanted to build a bridge so the people could trade with the mainland, but some business bad guys didn't want that and sent assassins after him. We had to protect him, except he lied about the assassins so his village could afford our protection and we thought it would just be bandits, but actually it was a really powerful badass guy who fought Kakashi-sensei. But before that, while we were still on the road these two super scary guys came out of a puddle with a chain but Kakashi-sensei caught onto them before they could do anything. It turned out those guys were just the first, though, because we ran into this huge guy with a massive sword and he had a mask made of bandages too! We fought a lot and we pulled off this super awesome combo attack with Sasuke to free Kakashi-sensei from this prison bubble thing technique, and then they fought some more with dragons made of water! It turns out Kakashi-sensei has these eyes called Sharingan and…"

Shikamaru blinked and slowly, deliberately cleaned his ear with his pinkie as a mess of explanations, descriptions and names flew past him.  
"… and then there was this guy I thought was a girl, but she, uh, he was actually a Mist ANBU but not really, and he told me that you find your strength when you find someone who truly acknowledges you, but he turned out to be with the assassins after all and…" Naruto went on, too happy to tell the story to notice he lost his audience somewhat. "… so this assassin guy wasn't so bad after all and asked me for my kunai, then… … and then finally I was like 'Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!' and Kakashi-sensei made a lot of them too, and the whole village turned up to help us and all the thugs ran away!"

There was a moment of silence. Naruto caught his breath. Shikamaru did too, after having had to dodge some of the spirited gestures illustrating the key points of the fight, as well as make sure his fell ge- that is to say chuunin did not accidentally hurt some of the passers by. Finally, he had collected himself enough to piece together most of the story, which led him down some troubling mental paths.  
"You originally took this mission as C-rank?" He asked, dreading the answer.

"Yeah, but Kakashi sensei said that the ninja trained enemy made it B- or A rank!"

"And as Chuunin we are expected to lead people, based on what the Hokage told us, our fellow rookies into C- and B- rank missions, with the possibility of things turning out much more difficult."

"Yup."

"Missions where we could easily come to face enemies more experienced and skilled than we are, out to kill or hurt us or our teams, with plenty of room for things to get even worse."

"Seems like it to me."

"Going to other countries with no option of backup, against techniques we've never seen or heard of before.

"Cool, isn't it?"

"Oh, what a pain in the- ahem, I mean this is troublesome. Do you think there's a chance I could go back and… nah, never mind, my mother would kill me, or make me do the exams all over again in half a year." Shikamaru looked rather defeated, but clearly afraid of something worse than a messy mission.

"Don't worry about it, Granny said we'd get special training. Also, we get to wear the flak vests now! Anyway, gotta go, I was going to visit my teammates in the hospital before this promotion business, and now I got some news to give them too! See you tomorrow!"

* * *

On his way home to try on the flak vest and see what else was in the pack, Naruto found his cheer drying up. The initial excitement of promotion, being one step closer to his goal was wearing off and he started to realise what had Shikamaru that worried. The whole business in the Wave, it all could have actually happened with him in charge. What if Tazuna came to the village a few months later than he did? His team could easily have had just him to rely on. Kakashi-sensei was amazing, but he had his work cut out, Sasuke almost died and Naruto himself had to rely on his other chakra for the first time to survive and contribute.  
If they were given that mission today, could they succeed on their own? He knew he has gotten better. He was faster, stronger, and never mind what anyone else said, he was really starting to pay attention instead of goofing around when it really counted. But the uncomfortable truth remained that he was still far from where he needed to be to do any real good.

He has learned some cool jutsu from Ero-sennin, which allowed him to make a difference, that not too long ago had him jump for joy, ... but was just that enough? Even Granny told him there would be some training to help him get where he had to go, so it couldn't be. What else did he need, besides a kickass jutsu developed by the Fourth no less, to protect the people precious to him?

The thought brought to mind Team Seven. His friends, maybe, on good days? Sure, Sakura always hit him and really didn't seem to like him most of the time, and Sasuke was an ass who would not acknowledge him to save his life, but there were a few times when the three of them were on a mission together or listening to Kakashi-sensei, maybe yelling at him for being late, he felt like really he belonged. He's never had anything like that, and never before did he realise how much he missed it . There were few moments that he could recall that had that quality of belonging to it, but each was different. Eating at the ramen stand, these days with Iruka-sensei almost felt like family, or as close as he was probably ever going to get to it. That talk with Hinata before his match against Neji, he realised, had that feeling to it too, with something else there as well that he couldn't quite put his finger on. His fight against Gaara was won precisely because he had people he wanted to protect, and at the end of the bay they separated with the Sand shinobi establishing a bond of their shared fate if not much else. He finally, even in small ways, but finally belonged to the village and felt like he was relating to its people, after all those years of empty blank stares skipping over him and guiding away even kids of his own age.

There was of course always the odd sour note. The other day when he and an apprehensive Gai-sensei dragged Granny to the hospital to get Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and Lee back up, things did not exactly feel right and Naruto could not bear to stay. He knew he's done well on his mission with Jiraiya, the new Hokage they found and brought back was in the midst of healing everyone, getting the whole village back together. Sasuke was okay and Sakura-chan was relieved, their team was whole again – but in that hug she gave Sasuke when he got up, Naruto saw something that made his stomach sink. There, he did not belong. He hoped that one day he'd be able to make sense of those feelings, but all he could do right in that moment was smile a bit and leave, eager to take his mind off of the topic. More than ever he wished he had someone to talk these sorts of things through with.

Team Seven was complicated. Other people he really cared about, they were all complicated and always he felt like however much he tried to understand it all, he simply lacked the tools, anything to use as reference to make sense of it all. But however unsure he was, however little he could really grasp, he just became responsible for their well-being. This was vindicating, exciting, frightening. But could the current him, in a situation like that mission, stand up to Zabuza or someone like him? On his own, without the Fox, which was ultimately an unknown and untrustworthy source of strength? He'd needed it even facing Neji. He knew it was powerful, but if he was the one who had to defend his comrades, he could not just rely on that all the time. The damned thing could just as easily refuse him whenever it wanted. Clutching a fist, he realised he'd need to commit to that training like nothing he's done before. In that he could find meaning, certainty and perhaps enough knowledge of himself to start truly making sense of the rest of the world too.

But first, he thought before the unpleasant reality ruined his mood, it was time to see what stuff he got. Birthdays or any other gifts, needless to say, were not really present in his own life but he saw enough glimpses of other people's celebrations over the years to appreciate what he did get. Iruka-sensei treating him for ramen, among other things was always more than just a shared meal for him. Granny's necklace was something he treasured and looked after at the best of his ability. The techniques Er- Jiriaya had taught him. This simple package may have been less special than those, but was still something he'd want to savour nonetheless.

Finally having gotten home, Naruto laid out the contents of the pack on his bed, with practically glowing eyes. Vest? Check. Like Kakashi-sensei's, strong but flexible and with a bunch of useful pockets. High quality kunai, wires and tools? Nice and check. Rule book? Sad check. Instruction manual for basic traps? Check, although Naruto was certain they would not measure up to his better pranks. Basic storage scrolls with instruction manuals? Nice, useful and check – he would no longer have so much trouble with bringing cup ramen to his missions. He'd need something more practical and less precious than that to try them out and make sure he can use them properly, though, ideally before departing. He was sure he could find something. Fundamentals and recommended reading for advanced shurikenjutsu? Sad check, although Kakashi sensei might be persuaded to teach him doing the real thing. Then finally, the last thing, blank chakra scrolls. Check. Jiraiya said the pack would have some, and instructed him to save them to a later time, he wanted to teach the use of those to him personally.  
So for now, Naruto donned the vest, stuffed some of the new weaponry in its various pockets, as well as his old equipment as well. He struggled briefly with coming up with items to put in the various spaces, pouches, pockets, scroll- and kunai holsters on the vest with items that he might need. He rarely did, but carrying them around was its own reward as far as he was concerned.

A quick run around his apartment and some acrobatic moves confirmed his suspicion, the vest did not hinder his movements at all. The in-built holsters were much quicker and easier to open than the ones he normally had. He definitely liked the new gear, his mind already full of neat stuff he could do with it all.  
Naruto walked over to his mirror. If he ignored the mess of a room behind him and the lamp broken by his testing of the new equipment, he definitely looked like a seasoned, cool shinobi.

"You want a piece of me, huh?" He stared down the mirror, trying his best and failing at producing the gruff voice that he felt was essential to complete the effect. He flurried and spun his kunai around a bit to make up for it. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, chuunin of Konoha and you better damn well believe that! …Oooh man I am so cool!"

Practically jumping for joy, he left his apartment, eager to impress the rest of his team. Things may have gotten weird last time, but that was no matter. This was something special to show off. Naruto wondered how his teammates would take the idea of him being in charge. Sakura was the most knowledgeable of the three of them, and Sasuke was still someone he was yet to beat. But neither could or maybe even would call him the useless loser anymore. He's proven himself to them as a teammate already, and he will learn how to do so as a leader. Them and the village both.

* * *

The hospital was stuffy, one side still bore signs of recent repairs and its corridors were full. The nurse on receptionist duty made a face when he showed up again, but showed the way to Sasuke's room. As Naruto entered, he broke off a conversation.

"… which means from now on everyone will have to be a little bit more flexible. Well just look, there he is. I thought he'd show up sooner."  
"Kakashi sensei?" Naruto was surprised at the sight of the jounin. The last he saw of him was still in bed in a nearby room. Granny was clearly something else when it came to medical jutsu.

"Yes, I dropped by to see how my troopers are doing. I had a few things to explain, and you barged in right in the middle of the discussion. It's nothing I would not have a chance to explain to you later on, anyway. Also, I hope you two understand. I know I've been focusing on Sasuke with the exam, and now Naruto is getting special training, but they should be very good at helping both of you out, especially you, Sakura."

"I understand, sensei, of course. It's not a problem at all. Will anyone else be there, or is it just going to be Sasuke and I?" Sakura chirped along in her usual tone of addressing an adult, making sure to sound happy and nice, not at all suggesting she better get her way or else. Sasuke remained quiet, staring ahead.

"Oh it's going to be everyone in your age group except Naruto and Shikamaru. Times are going to be tough, and we are granted a very short time to make sure everyone is up to the task. I am sure Kurenai and Gai will have a nice field day with everyone." Sakura was visibly crushed, and a practiced observer like Kakashi could notice a small sign of relief even on Sasuke's still blank face.

Trying to divert the conversation from dangerous waters, Kakashi turned to Naruto.  
"So then, as I was saying, one of the two appointed Chuunin this time is one of my students. I have to say, I entered you three to give you some ideas on the type of strong people who are out there and set you down a peg, but you have persevered and one of you even got as far as getting a promotion. Naruto, you have done well in your Exam matches, and I heard of the summon you managed to do in the forest. Sakura, your answers in the first stage were exemplary and as far as I know, the best of those who took it this time, but more importantly you have taken good care of your two injured teammates in the second and made an impressive fight in the preliminaries. Sasuke, you were able to master one of my own top techniques, and more importantly you used it to protect your friends from someone threatening them."

Kakashi's mask obscured his face like always, but the trio could still see a wide, heartfelt smile forming on the man's face.  
"Above all, though, beyond individual achievement I must praise your team spirit. Just on your own none of you could have gotten this far. Together you pushed one another through obstacles, and finally operated as a team. As your jounin instructor, that makes me incredibly proud of all of you."

For a few moments, there was a happy, warm quiet in the room. But then  
"I still want to fight you, Naruto." Sasuke's voice could never be accused of being upbeat, but the way he spoke now sent chills up Naruto's back. Something was up with him. He hasn't spoken a single word since Naruto entered the room, and looking at Sakura's and Kakashi's expressions, maybe not for the whole time they were there.

"You ended up beating my opponent in the Exam, and Itachi" the Uchiha made a tight fist at saying the name aloud "was only interested in you when we finally met. You were promoted and I don't care about that, that's got nothing to do with my goal. But I want to fight you, because I need some answers before this whole team charade can resume. I will not take orders from a dead last loser."

"Oh yeah? Name the time and place right now, you bastard! I'll show you what I'm made of!" Naruto forgot about his worries as anger and the challenge got a grip on him. A fight with Sasuke, finally as equals? Bring it on!

"Right now, on the roof. Let's settle thi-"

"Oh no you don't, not like that."  
In a fraction of a second Kakashi went from the quiet presence of a smiling, proud man standing with his beloved students to one of the Leaf's most elite jounin. His voice, soft and slightly muffled with emotion just now, cut right through their argument with an authority and presence it hasn't had since the barked, desperate commands echoing through the deadly mist cover over the bridge. The goofy slob seemed to now tower over them, his one visible eye bearing down on them with discipline, the dominance of a commander and worse, deep disappointment.

"You want to spar? That's well and good. But I will not let you two bicker like two first year Academy students fighting over the last piece of potato chips. Naruto, you are an officer. That means you cannot let yourself goaded by a single line from an uppity genin. Am I understood?"

"But he sai-"

"Am I understood, chuunin?" He boomed from beyond his mask.

"Yes, sir."

"Sasuke, what you just did was insubordination. I am willing to overlook it, and if you are lucky, maybe your commanding officer is too. If you are so sure of your abilities that you feel entitled to question your captain's abilities and thus that of the authorities which granted him that rank, then perhaps you can be of some assistance here. Can you?"

"…Yeah."

"I did not hear you, genin!" If Kakashi was uncharacteristically harsh with Naruto to whip him into shape, then it's best not to detail how he turned to his most prized pupil. Years of dark plans and preparation, the surge of dark power around him and the frustrations surging up around Sasuke that broke the spirit of their team but a minute ago had no chance but to dissipate under the furious gaze of his jounin.

"Yes, sir!" Sasuke, no longer a living statue to hurt pride but once more merely a young boy, found himself answering, only trying to salvage his self-respect and not show the abject fear of a very angry professional killer and the suddenly realised error in behaviour.

"Good. Now, do the two of you still want to make this a fight?"

"Yes, sir!"Naruto and Sasuke were standing at full attention and forming a line along with Sakura, neither of them sure how they got there. Sakura, to her credit, was bright enough to zip it and save any future questions or comments for a later time. Assuming any of the three of them could survive having just spoiled Kakashi's mood.

"Good. Then meet with me in training area five in fifteen minutes, where the two of you shall have a formal spar with my supervision. I just trained one of you for a month, and we never fully got to see the fruits of it all. The other is about to receive some training of his own as well, and this will help me gauge where he is right now. The third member of the squad, whose presence you managed to ignore almost completely, will accompany me and will carry out an analysis - an _objective_ analysis, genin - of your capabilities on display. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir!" The three of them chorused.

"I expect all three of you to be fully geared and prepared when the time is up. Go!"

Kakashi marched out of the suddenly almost empty room. Sakura and Naruto were sprinting as fast as they could to their destination. Sasuke thought for a minute, grinned, then donned his headband and geared up before going after them.

* * *

Outside, Kakashi let out a sigh and was about to get going when someone intercepted him.  
"Kakashi-san, as a fairly frequent guest at the hospital and someone who recovered just recently, I am sure you understand our patients' need for peace and quiet in these rooms, am I correct?" A kindly nurse on the rather large side, dressed in all white and towering above Kakashi was speaking with a very alarming, soft tone.

"Wha-?"

"Surely, as befits all the care and very highly skilled effort our professionals have put into keeping you alive time and time again, you would not suddenly just decide to issue a military dressing down loud enough to not leave a single patient asleep, correct?"

"I-"

"Because if so, then I am sure some malicious person just decided to imitate your voice extremely loudly, and should he decide to do so again, we will carry out steps to prevent the disruption of the peace and quiet the sick and injured need. Am I understood?"

"…Yes ma'am."

* * *

Sasuke hopped roof to roof, after the rest of his team. The fresh air did a world of good for him, but he was still annoyed. Not being promoted, and even having the former class clown being promoted above him was somewhat of a blow to his ego, but his goal in the exams was to fight strong people and that he has. Compared to before, he was stronger and had more aces up his sleeve. But said aces were not worth anything against his target, a man more inclined to capture the class clown for whatever reason than to face him or even to finish the work he started. He may have been getting better, but 'better' was not 'good enough'.

If he compared how he was at his first day as a genin, and how he was now to how the idiot was then and how he was the last time he saw him fight, Sasuke's own progress was dwarfed. Hell, even Sakura improved a lot simply by dropping a bit of her idiotic and disturbing routine of adoration for him. Oddly enough, while he far preferred the less annoying behaviour to what she previously did, it also had a way of getting to him in a much more upsetting way. She sat beside him all afternoon the previous day, first trying to chat, and then busying herself with quietly humming and peeling apples, trying to look after him. It reminded him of a memory from another lifetime, when he was sick and his mother did much the same for him. That was about a year before she died in front of his eyes. The memory almost made him vomit, and he just had to break its hold over him.

Years have passed, and he spent every waking hour trying to become good enough to avenge his family, then some of the weakest people in his class can come along and just waltz up to near his level? What did that say about his own efforts? The only people to be promoted off of the exams were the class clown who failed graduation and became a genin only due to some strange circumstances involving two of the teachers and the lazy bum who barely attended a class he didn't just sleep through.  
If people can do that, yet when it comes to the real thing still improve by leaps and bounds, what does it say about the very idea of the Academy or the years he spent there, thinking he was making progress? He was boiling with rage over the concept of the village making him waste all those years.

Even now, with the gut-wrenching anger he felt in the hospital room at the sight of Naruto now gone, he could feel the same frustration that caused it. The scaredy-cat idiot had some type of strength to him that gave him a drive, that made him improve with a speed that was… intimidating? A loser concerned with boasts about becoming Hokage and pulling ridiculous pranks was forged into someone he genuinely wanted to fight by what, a few missions and some training? Even as Sasuke wanted nothing more than to remind Naruto of his place, half of him wanted to ask him what allowed him such improvement.  
Not that he did not have a source of power and a way forward that could outstrip this in a heartbeat. The nasty sting on his neck reminded him of certain times he accessed the power of that curse mark. It was disgusting, but at the same time intoxicating and made his head buzz with ideas of what he could achieve. Yet now, as the heat of the moment of seeing Naruto passed, the rush of air calming his mind, he could also feel the strength was not his own, he was not the master of it.

He may have grown dubious of the Academy, but they did teach the very basics well, and the rule "any weapon you do not know how to use belongs to the enemy" did seem to apply here. There was the option of learning to use it from the man who gave it to him. Given the right opportunity, he could do it, and probably benefit from breaking with the support system and false comforts of the village containing him. But with a clear head and a good night's sleep he realised that such things came at a price. He would do anything to carry out his vengeance, but he had no assurance that the price paid would be worthy of the prize gained towards that goal.

It was, after all, just some training and a tough mission that transformed the hopeless dead last. Kakashi said there'd be tough times ahead – meaning difficult missions to push him, to use and refine his Sharingan, and also some training ahead. Perhaps for now the best route would be casting aside the mark and get stronger on his own, the price paid for advancement being his continued servitude to the village.  
He just hoped he made the right call as he headed forward.

* * *

"Good, I see all three of you are finally here." Kakashi was the first at the training area, which went a long way of showing that he was far from having returned to his normal attitude.  
He was leaning against a high pole which marked the centre point in the clearing, a small river on the one side, the forest on the other. Sakura was standing next to him, unsure whether she should be nervous about the role she was to play in the fight, or the nature of the fight itself.

Naruto looked happy and excited despite the lecture which made Sakura worry, even though with Kakashi there she knew things would not get too ugly. He was a bumbling idiot, but she has by now learned this was mostly by choice rather than nature. He could get serious as well, and if the account of the fight against the Sand she pieced together attested to anything, it was that he could be formidable. Looking at him Sakura saw that he was happy and itching for things to begin, but more than that he seemed confident, which was not a good sign. She didn't fully understand the matters involved, but could tell that whatever camaraderie her team had was now damaged, and it would take some work to mend it back together. That never seemed to matter so much before. Things were as they were, she barely needed to even think about teamwork or try anything to make it happen. To her, team spirit was something that always took care of itself.

The idea of a rivalry between Sasuke-kun and that idiot was ridiculous, but the two did always seem to work it out with a positive end result. They both finished the chakra control exercise and climbed the tree; both took on Haku, Gaara and even Orochimaru. She knew she was getting frustrated by the fact that she was rapidly becoming the least practically useful member of the trio, and if anything, that should have led to some eventual confrontation (preferably with Kakashi sensei and ending in him teaching her something for a change), but once more what happened was that the loud idiot and Sasuke were at it, and worst of all, starry-eyed affections for Sasuke one way or the other, she had to admit it as more or less Sasuke's fault, beyond the in-built annoying qualities of Naruto.

She was unsure what to do. Of late, Sasuke was not acting like himself. She had to admit he never exactly plastered her room with roses or even went as far as treating her like an equal or someone worth talking to (he barely did that with Kakashi sensei), but since the Exams and that mark there was a darker quality to him. The sound of him gloating while breaking that Sound nin's arms with glee was scary, the dark aura around Sasuke made her worry for him in a way she never thought she would.

He did seem to occasionally act like his old self; one of those hazy memories she did retain from the brink of consciousness in the fight against Gaara was him telling Naruto to take her and go. He said that he would not suffer anyone dear to him hurt again, and the mere idea that that group included her made her personal world spin. But there were also the times he'd be moodier than usual, or suddenly act out with no clear explanation. She never needed to decide anything too big on her own before, and could not be sure what trust to put in her understanding of him, but it seemed to her he felt angry at something out of his control, and he wanted to deal with the fact in some way. He seemed like if just a few buttons were pressed, he could be on the brink of something very, very bad, but there was nothing concrete to really point out and turn to any of the adults about. If anything, she was worried her doing that might be that push of a button that sets him off.

So when the usual rivalry flared up on the second time Naruto came to see him in the hospital and the first time they actually talked in weeks led to a fight, barely channelled into a spar by the lucky presence of Kakashi-sensei, she was worried. The idiot was boastful, out to prove himself to the whole world for whatever reason and was not above petty stupidity to do it. He has gotten better, even in terms of not being quite as much a pain as he used to be, but he was far from knowing how to deal with Sasuke in his current state, not when not even Sakura herself was sure about that. He'd escalate and make things worse.

With those two egging each other on, she was lost. If this was about an actual question or a point of different opinions, she could trust the fact that Sasuke-kun was sensible and usually right, maybe even chime in herself. But now all that seemed to fuel the conflict was the simple fact that they both were the people they were, blowing their team apart. Fighting with her tears, all she could do now was hope that Kakashi-sensei had a better handle on them than she did.

"The terms of the fight are going to be very simple. You can use some ninjutsu, but mainly focus on taijutsu. I want to see how well you two are doing on that before anything else. Naruto, this means you can use no more than three clones at any one time, this is about seeing how good you are at the basics of fighting, and any more is just attempting to overwhelm your opponent. Sasuke, you are to use no elemental techniques, especially not _that_ one. Likewise, Naruto, Iruka tells me you have learned a particular jutsu from Jiraiya-sama while looking for Tsunade-sama. Do not use it. You can use tools, wires and shuriken as much as you like, but go easy on explosive tags. You are not to leave the training area, but the woods inside are an acceptable place to relocate to, should you deem it useful. Try not to clobber each other's brains out, you ought to find a more useful death than that. Sakura, you stay with me, and watch them closely. When I move, you move with me. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, are both of you ready?"

"Yes, sir!" the two spoke at once.

"Then on the count of 3… 2… 1… Begin!"

The start was simple enough. Both dashed straight ahead. Naruto aimed a punch straight at Sasuke's gut, the Uchiha veered to the side and tried to slam his elbow down on where his head would be – except he miscalculated and Naruto's attack wasn't a genuine one. The blonde sped up in the last moment and evaded his attack, dropped a smoke bomb and now three of him dashed out from the cloud at Sasuke from left, right and above. A thrown kunai got rid of the one on the right. The left one was faster than he expected, had time to get to his side and it delivered a punch to his face before Sasuke rolled with the motion and drove his fist into the clone's gut hard enough to negate the vest, dispelling that one too. This put him out of the way of the third that went for a showy, but telegraphed attack from above, managing only to dent the ground before Sasuke 's downward kick reached it.

To Sasuke's surprise instead of the pop and a Naruto rising from the ground that he was expecting, his leg slammed into a log Naruto seems to have switched places with at the last second. Feeling the familiar texture of crunching wood under his feet, his eyes scanned around in a wild search for his enemy, snapped towards the woods in a fraction of a second to help him avoid the shuriken already swirling towards him as he hurriedly moved to parry them – which is when he got a faceful of fist from Naruto, transformed back from the vest around the log he failed to notice. He rolled with the punch again, but the smell of blood filled his nose, his face throbbed with pain where the hit landed and the clone's shuriken did manage to make a few shallow cuts.

"So that's where the last one was, huh." Sasuke spat some blood and got up. "Guess I do have to take you seriously, for now." The clone in the forest seemed to be laying low in the woods. The Naruto in front of him drew his kunai, as did he. A quick back-and-forth of flurries positioned Sasuke where he wanted without it being obvious. He put some chakra into his feet and jumped. A dark blue blur sped upward along the centre pole while another blur in orange took the opportunity and took to the trees, throwing shuriken as he turned. Sasuke avoided most and deflected the rest with his kunai mid-air, latched onto the post and ran up it, seeking the advantage of height.

A red flash in his eyes, and the world suddenly became sharper and clearer. The trees that have before hid his opponent now betrayed the tell-tale signs he was looking for. It would have been a fun idea to see how the former prankster liked the forest being lit on fire all around him, but it was made very clear that he could not use his elemental techniques for this fight. For the moment he felt like obeying the arbitrary rule, granting his enemy that small handicap, so instead he opted for merely throwing kunai with attached exploding tags at Naruto. Either a fire would start anyway, or the idiot would be forced to abandon cover – and there he was, already coming to the same conclusion after just a few seconds of bombardment.

Two Narutos came dashing out of cover at speed. Anticipating their movement Sasuke prepared to pop them with thrown kunai, but was surprised to find they stopped dead at their tracts, right as another two came at them even faster, got a boost towards the air from the first clones and were flying at him. He was just about to throw another kunai when one orange figure grabbed the other and gave it another boost ahead and slightly down, right at the pole he was perching on. Sasuke managed to jump off without offsetting his balance, but Naruto did kick it in half, essentially negating any real advantage it could now grant. Sasuke felt like spitting again.

Landing softly, the genin ran towards one of the chuunin's bodies, unsure if it was a clone but willing to take a chance if it meant ending this nonsense. His strike was met with a block, his kick was taken straight on, and his follow up was prevented by a clone having gotten there, grabbing his arm and yanking him to the side. The main Naruto delivered a right hook, then punched one of his ribs. Nearly growling, Sasuke did a sweep kick against the clone, missing, and had to quickly get out of the way of a kick coming right back. The rush was wearing off and the fight was slowing down. His sharingan let him avoid strikes coming at him, but as he pushed on, inevitably he was taking more and more risks, racieving more and more blows. A few more attacks achieved little on his part save for gaining some more bruises and a well-placed smoke bomb obscuring which of his opponents was the clone again. Oddly, with a strange expression on his face, Naruto did not make more. Sasuke was getting his backside handed to him by the idiotic, no good class clown and the idea made his blood boil. It was time to stop playing around.

Again, the Narutos drew their kunai and Sasuke did the same. He measured his options while keeping an eye on one edging towards flanking him. He wished there was opportunity for him to just shake the confusion and murk out of his head. So far all damage he's inflicted was on the clones, but he's taken more than enough himself. The fact infuriated him but they were all more or less light punches except for the last few, which he mostly took on purpose so he can carry out a proper counter-attack, though what he needed to really take care of were the clones. He tried letting his eyes figure out the technique for him, probing his memory and the current moves for any clue as how the technique could work.

His sharingan traced the pattern of movement, of chakra, of unity in work. The way of his foe's method of attack lay clear as day in his mind, but as they fought again and again he had to throw away his observations when the idiot switched to a whole other method seemingly at random. And the clone technique? Paradoxically, in smaller numbers they seemed more effective. Packed tight they'd have restricted each other's movements, and accounting for the difference in skill and speed, a few movements, never mind a large attack like his Grand Fireball would have dispelled whole masses of them quickly. With just a few of them, there were enough to split his attention and slow him down, give the user the option of diversion as well as combined assault. This was just guesswork on his part, but it seemed like any directions given to the clone upon its creation could be more complex and adaptable as opposed to forming a mob of clones with very simple instructions – maybe hinting at the challenge of the mass shadow clone technique being part mental, managing to create clones on the same level as with the smaller variant, without losing out in terms of quality.  
Under the pretence of a test of their abilities, Kakashi was clearly teaching Naruto something, or, given the thick headed nature of the chuunin, setting up an explanation to be delivered later. Which then begged the question: was he merely an assistant in the lesson, or was there something to learn for him as well?

What was he to do? He considered using a wire with a kunai or shuriken at the end. Spin it fast enough, be wary for aerial attacks and ones from below, and you've cut off any clones. The real one could just take the hit or even grab the wire, maybe let it wrap up on his arm, but then he'd have landed a hit or created an opportunity for an attack. On the other hand the distance involved would allow for the creation of more clones or the opportunity could be turned on him. Even if he were to score a direct hit, he's seen Naruto take some heavy punches before and practically shake them off, and for the purposes of this fight the real big techniques, where he was sure he had the advantage, were out.  
He needed to deliver a real attack that would show the stupid little runt the sheer difference between them, and the pressure of coming up with a good plan of attack that would get results was getting to him. A quick dash hoping he gets the right one, ignoring the clones and pummelling his face until even the idiot begins to feel it? How about trying to go for the legs with some direct stabs to slow him down? The clones allowed so many ways of defence and made so many of the ways of attacks useless that a ridiculously easy fight became a real head-scratcher, not exactly the best thing to suit his current mood.

He wanted to get all of this out of the way so he could return to becoming stronger, enough to take on Itachi.  
Itachi, against whom nothing he currently had seemed to work, who seemed impervious to all tactics or attacks.

Sasuke would be the first person to admit that he had a case of tunnel-vision when it came to his brother, even if he'd call it focus. But he was no idiot, and it was simple enough to figure out what Kakashi was going for. He faced an enemy against whom his abilities are worthless, who can counter what little he had to throw at him. He was fighting wrong now, and he fought wrong against Itachi.  
The realisation came to him as simply and swiftly as a change in the wind's direction, bringing fresh air and a new perspective. He was frustrated with the very idea of someone like himself being put into the same general bracket as Naruto, never mind the possibility of answering to him. The idea of the dead last equalling or even surpassing him spat in his face, it was plain wrong, and the possibility of it had him mighty pissed. It was akin to what took hold of him when he saw Itachi after all these years, just on a smaller, and oddly more personal scale.

Itachi's death was the goal of his life, and it was okay to not yet have achieved it, even if the failure had his blood boiling. With Naruto it was more of a personal insult, a failure of his own. Both made him angry, both spurred him to action, both gave him a sense of direction he now thought lost, but they also made him too direct, too unthinking, predictable and more like, well, Naruto at his worst. What Itachi shown and told him was a trap, to further some goal he did not yet know, and he almost fell for it.

As for the fight at hand? It was so simple he was dazzled the solution evaded him for such a long time. Sasuke Uchiha was a self-proclaimed avenger, and it was obvious to even a damned fool that what he'd do was attack time and time again. Maybe cleverly, but that's what he'd do just the same, and if you know what your enemy is about to do, you've practically won the fight and all you need to do is form a correct response.

Now with a clearer head, he realised that could work in the reverse too. Kakashi mentioned Naruto having learned a jutsu, possibly something big, enough to be banned like his own nature manipulation techniques. That option denied and with a limited number of clones Naruto had to get creative, and Sasuke had to admit, considering some of the pranks he's pulled over the years or the more inventive ideas he's come up with on missions, that Naruto with his brain actually engaged, pressured into thinking and _having fun_ could be dangerous.

But now it was Sasuke who figured out his opponent's angle. Lacking the immediate ability to do substantial damage, Naruto was tiring him out, sneaking in a punch or two to wear him down and get to him. So all he'd have to do was reverse, focus on the defence. Naruto could be fast, fairly strong, and he has seen him in the past use some kind of chakra that would envelop his whole body that increased it much further, but when you got down to it, his technique was clumsy and heavily flawed. So let him try to attack, make mistakes and walk away limping!  
Sasuke's smile returned. He once more knew he had the fight in the bag.

* * *

The fight progressed, but suddenly looked very different. Sasuke's posture changed and he drew back. He seemed focused, and more gathered, somehow, even though Sakura could have sworn he did not seem to lack any clarity a minute ago either. Yet it clearly made a difference. The two Narutos frowned, and then grinned. One of them charged only to be met with a quick, sure-handed block and a textbook riposte finished the clone off.

As far as Sakura could tell, Kakashi was not happy with the match earlier, but the change in rhythm seemed to have pleased him. As for her own take, she barely believed her eyes. Sasuke-kun of course was fast, strong, daring, clever, self-assured and clearly maintained control of the whole battle, he was all around amazing and Whatshisname did not stand a shadow of a chance. But the part of her that was aware of Kakashi beside her and knew she'd be questioned thoroughly, she had to admit that Naruto did indeed become strong. The preliminaries were eight weeks ago, where Naruto was a struggling underdog against Kiba to no one's surprise, barely managing to edge out a victory. She didn't know if Kiba has gotten any better in the meantime, but if the Naruto she was witnessing was to face off against Kiba as he was in that fight, he would completely and utterly trash the Inuzuka in a very, very short fight.

As the two fought away, back and forth, clashing kunai in hand, she had a moment or two to think. She felt a change in the atmosphere, like a pressure letting off. It was not the same as before the Exams, maybe it never would be, but it felt like things got a little bit better, somehow. When she caught their expressions for a glimpse, the boys now seemed to be grinning slightly (well, Naruto was grinning, Sasuke showed off a smirk that made Sakura make a conscious effort not to swoon), and it seems to have gotten to Kakashi as well. The fight went on with the same ferocity as before, but some of the bitterness, she'd have to call it, was gone. There was nothing real for Sakura to base this on, but she had a gut feeling that whatever went on during the fight had changed something. For the first time in weeks, she felt light again and had a hope that things would go just all right.

Of course that just freed up her attention at another thing. There was a small pang that bothered her, the fact that in the face of her teammates, she felt less and less capable. In the weeks since her fight with Ino, what has she done? Mostly she just sat beside Sasuke and he sure did not seem to appreciate that. Kakashi-sensei said the help he'd arranged would be especially good for her. She'll happens, she decided to make whatever effort it took to be stronger for her as well. For once, she was going to make others rely on her – if only she could figure out the area where she could really shine if she put herself to it.

* * *

For Naruto, the fight was very odd. He was glad he got the chance to fight Sasuke, but their sensei forbade them from using their strongest moves. He said he wanted to see how good they were, but not their best shots? At first, he was mad at him for even going as far as restricting the number of clones he was allowed to use, but it seemed to work in his favour. With just a few of them he could form a more solid idea of what he wanted each to do, imagine how the attack would go down, which clone would do what exactly. He also noticed something even stranger. When Sasuke took out a clone that saw a part of the fight he himself did not, he suddenly knew what was going on there too. He never noticed it before. He did recall going at Gaara from all the angles his clones had, for instance, but he never did think twice about that. In this fight, since he started noticing it, he felt like he's gotten better and better an understanding of how Sasuke fought, and it helped him out big time.

Compared to their previous battles in the Academy, when it was just beating his head against a stone wall, an event of pointless humiliation that he could not give up, this fight felt didn't have the desperation of those before, or the stakes that some of his fights with others have had. For the last few minutes it started to really feel like a friendly spar, not some weighty fight that would end on bad terms.

That said, Naruto was pressed. He was on the offensive, yet his chances of actually winning this thing felt smaller than when Sasuke had him on the defensive. He could throw shuriken, but Sasuke would block and evade them all. He could attack more directly, but with his focus seemingly on denying him any opportunities to do damage, Sasuke could flow around his moves, catch his fists and do some heavy counter attacks – he was real glad he did not feel the pain of the clones. He could probably not do a switch trick again; it was a minor miracle that the one with the vest worked.  
So what was he to do? The answer was explosive tags. Lots and lots of explosive tags.

With a full composure and a strategy that's been working, Sasuke was happy. For now he's made his peace, and knew what he had to do to get better. All that remained for the day was to remind Naruto why he was the top genin in their year, promotions be damned, by not letting him land one more hit. Tiring the guy out seemed a futile idea, but it would lead to a standoff to be broken eventually by Kakashi or a mutual realisation of the fruitless nature of continuing. He could be okay with that, and keep his dignity. The possibilities were accounted for and he could dodge anything Naruto threw at him.  
Like this kunai, or that, or that one. Each with paper tags at the end, which began to smoke as soon as they hit the remnants of the pole behind him. Oh shit.

Sasuke jumped, ran and evaded but time and time again he felt an all too close rush of heat on his back or sides. A bratty, somewhat manic laughter echoed from the clearing, where now a group of three Narutos was busy unloading wave after wave of explosive tags at wherever he was, a fourth being sent in when he could get away. It would yell or point to his direction, but somehow even after he started taking the scout out before it made a noise, the rest seemed to know where he was. Maybe he could feel when and where a clone was popped? He's already used the few exploding tags he had on him, but Naruto seems to have made use of all the pockets his mark of office was equipped with. Nonetheless, he should not have been able to keep it up for that long. A quick glance into the clearing, revealed one Naruto busying himself with some scroll, but before he could move in to interrupt, two clones engaged him in a melee, buying time. By the time he disposed of them, the Naruto was done with the storage scroll, apparently filled with the damned explosives. Sasuke made a mental note to make the acquisition of one a personal priority, as well as learn the best ways of dealing with someone using them.

Naruto was clearly new at this. The sharingan showed uneven chakra within the technique, it was probably amongst his first attempts. It didn't help him much, but it was a start on an eventual counter-strategy, as now that the original rush wore off, Sasuke could see that a good few of the exploding tags did not survive the sealing and unsealing with their utility intact.

Sasuke sighed. There was a response to being defensive, and he would have to attack to get rid of it. But he'd do it smart. He planned on rushing in, avoiding the missiles and taking one of the tags. The clones would not be an issue, he'd either make Naruto retreat to a safe distance or if needed try to throw him and once at a reasonable distance he'd set the tag off and throw it at the pile. If needed, he was sure he'd be forgiven for using his Grand Fireball to direct the explosion away from himself. With luck this all would take the pile out, give Kakashi time enough to take Sakura and get out too. That damn idiot just had to go and get carried away, and made it so the solution to his nonsense had to be equally ridiculous.

His lungs nearly burst as he made sure to take as deep a breath as he could - he'd need it. This was dangerous and unnecessary, and something very much like his idiotic teammate. He knew he had done and will continue to do even less sensible things than this, but for a spar, this seemed out of place. He fixed his sharingan on his targets, made his preparation to get rid of the stack of explosives in a controlled way and -

"STOP THAT RIGHT THE HELL NOW YOU ORANGE IMBECILE, THOSE THINGS ARE DAMN DANGEROUS! I SWEAR IF YOU'VE HURT MY SASUKE-KUN EVEN IN THE LEAST, I WILL END YOU! HOW DARE YOU EVEN PRESUME YOU ARE ON THE LEVEL WHERE YOU CAN DO THIS SORT OF THING TO HIM?"

Suddenly there was a third combatant on the field, grabbing Naruto by the collar and delivering roughly two slaps per word.  
The surprise entry seems to have ended the bout to Kakashi's satisfaction, who also came in, gently freed Naruto from his pink assailant, put the exploding tags back to storage seals and officially ended the match.

* * *

Ten minutes later and with a short lecture on the appropriate amount of explosives to be carried on person or in a single storage scroll, what constitutes 'going easy' on them and the safe handling of such equipment in large quantities out of the way, all delivered in a surprisingly cheerful tone, Kakashi gave an awkward cough.

"Regardless of the danger you've put each other in or the property damage you caused to a training area, I trust this little exercise has helped alleviate tensions between you two? I really cannot have my team splinter over a silly matter like the little arms race you two began. I was meaning to give both of you just a talking to, but maybe what you needed was just an opportunity to work it out of your system." He laughed a bit, patting both boys on the back. "Whatever the case, I did get to make the observations I wanted. Sasuke, you seem to have gotten to the conclusions I have hoped you would get to, without my having to spell it out for you, well done. We'll talk about it later in private, if you want to. Naruto, I will discuss my findings with you tomorrow. Your final move may have been, shall we say, excessive, but it was inventive and that's one of your best qualities and assets as a team leader to be. Sakura, took you long enough to intervene. Looking at you, you've wanted to do something for a good while now. As for the analysis, I will question you after I let these two go. No sense in letting them get new ideas, the village would run out of training fields within the week."

The trio seemed to relax. Naruto, cheerful as ever, started talking about a nice dinner at Ichiraku's, Sasuke looked like he was just about to leave on his own, and Sakura started going over her mental notes, points and questions. Kakashi however coughed again to get their attention.

"Anxious to go already, huh? Well, don't let me stop you. For too much time anyway. Just to drive home the lessons learned and to properly finish off the day you shall undergo what I like to call the 'Triple Gai'."

Three fearful expressions emerged. Well, two plain as day, but another was there too if you knew what signs to look for.

"I'd have skipped this, but then it came to mind that you might need to learn the consequences of mouthing off at each other in the presence of a superior officer, letting such talk happen let alone affect you, or not stepping in when your fellow genin's mouth is clearly acting well ahead of his brain, never mind the proper handling of the – but we've been over that. Now then, the little exercise I had in mind is set up to give you the exhaustion of a three day mission in just a few hours' worth of activity."

Kakashi was delighted to see in the faces of his pupils the formation of complaints, the quick realisation that voicing them would not be a good idea, followed by three fairly guessable and very colourful curses, and finally the resignation to do whatever was needed to get it out of the way.  
They were learning, after all.


	3. Jiraiya's Night Out

**Chapter 2 - Jiraiya's Night Out**

A Konoha night had an atmosphere to it that none other could reproduce. If you listened hard, you could hear the forests beyond the walls, coming to life at night and supplying the waves of mosquitoes unfortunate genin on other duties did not quite have the time to wipe out yet. Inside too, the place was alive with lit windows that betrayed a hint of merry conversation or a quarrelling old couple, you could behold the people wander about in the night and take a good look at an Izunuka woman - quite a looker - taking a pack of puppies on preliminary training. You could enjoy the enthusiastic if drunken singing of civilians after work, spot their accents and odd clothes, their continuous amazement at the Hokage Monument and wonder how many were wandering traders, workmen hired to fix the battle damage, and how many were low ranking spies trying to gather intelligence.

You could almost forget you were in a village whose chief export was mercenaries with power beyond the human scope. Perhaps it was being back home, forgetting one's burdens and not being worried of being beset by enemies, but of the ninja villages, Konoha always did feel the most like a town of ordinary folks. Just about the only reminder right now presented itself only if you turned an eager (or just had a very professional) ear towards some of the young men and women spinning the hell out of rather dull and ordinary missions' events in retelling. Tonight they did have their competition of course, an their continued effort was praiseworthy. It's hardly as if they would be used to having to out-do rivals.

You could say a lot of wonderful things about the people of the Leaf, but it was plain to see that most of it, however comforting, was quite plain. Return home from a mission where you have to assassinate someone, and the first thing you'll crave will be just some peace and quiet, thank you very much. The capital of the feudal lord thus remained the cultural heartland of the Land of Fire, with performances religious or worldly, as well as most music actually worth listening to, hoping to catch the ear and patronage of the feudal lord or a lesser noble. You could just about find the finest of food and drink, at extortionate prices aimed at clan heads, but for most it was the simple, hearty basics and a few cups of sake.

Not that Jiraiya minded that one bit. Spend long enough of a time as an agent on the high courts, and you will be fed up with fancy for a lifetime.  
And for once he was drinking not to chase bad thoughts away but to celebrate! The night was balmy, the moon wondrous bright, his companionship pleasant enough, and the booze was cheap. He had reason to feel pride, and saw to it that Sensei's seat was filled with worthy buttocks. On a night like this, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

"I'm telling you, the time you know, and I mean really know you've gotten old is when you have a heartfelt conversation about brats these days with people whom you considered greenhorned upstarts just a decade ago." The red vest of historic age did its long-held duty, absorbing the droplets of sake escaping off of Jiraiya's chin as he took a large gulp from his bottle. They were well past the time of night when anyone bothered with the saucers.

"Nnah. It's even worse when you llllisten to some old fart's whining, and realise you agree with 'im. And even then you never really _feel_ old until yer missus tells ya so. Morning after morning." A scarred head was only held upright by a well-practiced buttressing position from the man's arm, and a brain that held more knowledge of applied battle tactics than most of the village put together happily soaked itself in alcohol.

"Another round?"

"Bottoms up"

Jiraiya and Shikaku were getting on like a house on fire. Both could be considered old war horses, despite that they were of a different generation. Nara was the quiet sort, with a domineering wife and an intelligence that reminded Jiraiya of his old student, and it felt good celebrating Naruto's promotion with someone like that.  
He was feeling an odd mix of guilt and pride about the whole thing.  
On the one hand he has neglected seeing his godson for twelve years, trusting his sensei to be able to take care of the kid. He did not have the skills to take care of a baby or a small infant, so the first few years would be out anyway, and when he did return for a report and caught a glimpse of the kid bearing a face so much like Minato's with a mix of Kushina, he simply did not have the strength to talk to the young Naruto, a boy named after one of his very own characters. He was weak and selfish; he decided to take the easy road of trusting the Third to do right by the child.

Instead he went off chasing down threats to the village and thus fulfilling his duty of care, after a fashion. He's done what he's always done, more comfortable with staring murderers and lowlifes in the eye than a child in the face. He never even managed to put the words for a proper apology together, and without that he could not face Naruto or tell him about their relation. All he was now to the boy was a wacky old man, Pervy Sage, who has taken a shine to him. He could live with that.

It was hardly as if he wasn't teaching the boy now. Okay, maybe he was a bit rougher around the edges than Minato, and had Jiraiya started earlier, some of that raw talent could be accessed without the current, well, oddities. Not that he had much to judge the boy on, Sensei did little but remind him how much the young Naruto reminded him of Jiraiya at that age - and one of them did not have to bear the burden of the Fox.

Now with the Third gone, there was truly no one else to defer his orange responsibility. He already planned out the next few years, taking him to a bit of a long training trip, getting to know him like he should have done years ago, making things right. Then Tsunade goes and decides to make a boy of that age and that character a chuunin. She told him she even got Kakashi to 'brush up his skills', meaning by the time that one was through with Naruto he'd be terminally late for everything, learned all the basic stuff without any of the fun, and would have a head full of Jiraiya's own hogwash ideas, whatever form they took when Minato passed it on to Kakashi, and he to Naruto. Not quite the reintroduction he'd hoped for, all things considered, but he was just happy to have a drink to celebrate the things achieved and share a hope for the future with a proud father who himself was just a kid when Minato died.

Time flew when you lived without much in the way of direction, beyond your duty as the village's eyes and ears abroad, and before you knew it, the snot nosed kids the same age as your first, then second pupil grew up, had children of their own, were approaching the age where retirement starts becoming a real option, and said kids were competing with your last pupil, son of your second. How did people have time for family was something beyond Jiraiya. Maybe he overdid his bit with the 'lecherous old man' persona he liked so much, enough for it to truly seep into him and ward off any women out for anything but some quick, noncommittal fun. Maybe he simply never found the one meant for him, or perhaps he'd bump into her the next corner he'd walk around. Whatever was the case, Jiraiya did enjoy riding the current to wherever it took him. Besides, if his drinking buddy was a testament to anything, it was to how a serious relationship might make an equally serious dent in your ability to just take time and enjoy yourself.

And enjoy himself he has. Right along with two friends who have turned up on their own accord, and one hardly needed to be a spymaster to spot the Ino-Shika-Cho trio reuniting. The night began with the customary introductions, cheers to the promoted young men, the new generation, then the village, and the next one just because. Jiraiya wasn't quite used to drinking like this, most of his drinking part of a cover or an accessory to gloomy conversations in shady bars. But the companionship was good, and and the reminder that not all teams suffered from treason like his own or tragic death like many he's known was even better. They were well-used to each other's company, remarking that for once Shikaku was not talking about his wife but his hopes in his son, Chouza sharing a hearty laugh at the odd remark and Inoichi drinking quietly but keeping in the conversation with the odd comment that seemed to get to his companions with admirable precision. He was good too - it took almost half a minute for Jiraiya to note and confirm he was quietly taking mental notes on the more amusing or embarrassing things his friends let on, no doubt for later use. As the head spy of the village, Jiraiya approved thoroughly.

The night marched on around them. A true shame there were no historians in the crowd that had gathered around the quartet, each member eager to outdo the last to speak with stories wandering from era to era and unheard corners of the world. They discussed everything from missions with glorious success against the odds to those ending in hilarious failure, and late evening turning to midnight, then to the small hours, entertaining a constantly changing audience through the night. Perhaps the fate of the world could have gone a different direction had they not kept on their celebration, but fortune was on their side and the concept of time briefly lost to them. It was common practice for inns and the kind in ninja villages to not even try to close at a sensible hour. A seasoned murderer with negotiable morals, sharp weaponry and the ability to spit fire when he wants to is touchy enough a customer, but natural selection made it damned sure that no inn-keeps ever tried denying another drink to someone like that intent on consuming more. Kicking them out while they're drunk or keeping a trusty bat with a nail in it under the counter? Dream on.

It was at some unknown time, half-telling a story about an early mission with the Sannin, half trying in vain to out-drink Akimichi that the hairs on the back of Jiraiya's neck rose in warning. Something was off. Training with the toads over the years has made sure he could resist most poisons, and since the last incident with Tsunade he took private measures he could never be gotten like that again. A sense of danger crept into his mind, yet eyes darting through the crowd did not spot an undue amount of danger. Well, except on a watchful man, snickering somewhat and still seemingly committing everything he said to memory. Was he looking for an opportunity for some dirt on the new Hokage? Years of the craft made Jiraiya suspicious enough to make sure he did not get the chance., yet the group remained good spirited, and even to experienced eyes they did not betray ill intentions. There was nothing for it but to continue.

"Eh, you youngsters don't know a thing about how it used to be in our days. The village I was talking about? Gone and wiped out not two years later, the same story as with Uzushio - hic- gakure. At least that lot had a good defensive position and a bunch of sealing jutsu for a last stand." Caution or not, he could not resist emptying his glass again at the memory. His sensory abilities landed him the duty of being among the first to scout out both locations after the massacres, trying in vain to look for survivors. Forgetting was a hell of a job, even so many years later. "Anyway, 'Ruto and the other one did well, but don't get ahead o' yourselves. You got no business already talking about the next generations, 'cause YOU are it."

"Hold on ther, J'raya-sma!" Nara blurted out, swaying in his chair as he turned, employing his shadows briefly to prevent an undignified fall. "Yer one of the strongest fellas in the village an' trained the Fourth, but you don't know nothing 'bout generations! 'Less you've been leaving bastards all round like people say, you never had one of yer own, so ya don't know what it's like! Watchin' em grow up, hoping you survive the next mission 'cause ya can't imagine what would happen to them if ya didn't... ya don't know what it's like to finally be able to say Shuka- Shikamaru is gettin' ready to take up that thingie. Mantle."

The crowd drew back half a step, and Shikaku's friends gulped in terror. Amused, Jiraiya read from their faces that this might not have been the first time a scene like this happened, but more importantly he was impressed they did not abandon or even edge away from the shadow user.  
Before he knew it, he hopped atop the table and pointed at the man, trying to strike one of his favourite poses, borrowed straight out of the kabuki theatres of the capital.

"Oh, so I don't know do I? Well I know enough it does not do getting lazy and hoping you get to just pass on your burdens!" He felt dizzy but energized with the assuredness in his position like all drunks everywhere. He was fired up, and more importantly had an idea. "Talk like men past their prime when you are at that point, complaining and drinking all day! Besides, you're not yet at a point high enough to properly fall from. And I would be happy to demonstrate."

The crowd stepped back again. Conversations broke off, necks turned, eyes bulged out with the tension in the room reaching a new height. A challenge to the Ino-Shika-Cho! By Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin! Those few around who had the fortune to see either's abilities in the recent attack, gulped slightly.

"That's right!" Where the sound of drums or the distinctive strings' notes came from nobody quite knew or cared as the living legend issued an intoxicated challenge. ""Nara Shikaku! Akamichi Chouza! Yamanaka Inoichi! I shall show you the error of your ways, the only way real men decide disputes!"

Chouza moved to the centre, ready to shield his companions. The shadows darkened around Shikaku's feet, even as he was struggling to stay upright. Inoichi edged closer and closer to the hand seals used to fry any man's mind.

"I challenge you three to a drinking competition!" Jiraiya boomed, causing everyone but the inn-keep to groan with disappointment.

* * *

The crowd may have been robbed of one spectacle, but was granted another. Four shinobi of the highest ability, trying to out-drink one-another. One of them already failed to keep up after half an hour and was now resting his head on the counter too drunk to fall asleep, watching the duel unfold. The third, the only one sober enough to see sense, admitted defeat and was happily observing events the kind of which he doubtless came to get from the Sannin.  
Chouza was not a man many challenged twice, in whatever form. He possessed a constitution so strong the feudal lord occasionally borrowed him for a job as taster, for he was one of very few individuals with the knowledge and toughness to spot poisons by taste and survive the experience. But he was not a man who spent years training under the toads, sharing their odd meals and toasting with something that can get a gigantic toad drunk. And there was Inoichi, still drinking slowly and appreciating every drop, yet somehow keeping up with the other two. This truly was becoming a legendary battle.

Finishing his latest glass and watching the bartender scrounge around for an unopened bottle in the pile of empty glass, Jiraiya looked to the side, where he saw an outrageous sight. He saw, with his own eyes, an aura of blue chakra around Akimichi as the man burned the received calories and alcohol right to energy, with an unfittingly smug expression on his face.

"Hey!" Jiraiya yelled between gulps. "You can't do that, it's cheating!"

"N'body said we quit being ninja. _N'body_ beats Chouza at this stuff." The man, barely conscious, still managed to sound as victorious as if he got an enemy to play right into his hands in a life or death fight. "You're beaten, Jiraiya-sama."

"Fools!" Jiraiya dropped his glass and formed a hand seal. "Do you think you are the only ones with an ace up your sleeves? I wished to spare you the humiliation, but you have earned this!" Nothing happened for half a second, then the man went still. Very, very still.

This time around the crowd was expecting another silly show-off, which explains the amount of drinks spit out and a few people fainting as his form changed. A level of chakra not felt since the fight of the Third and his assailant spiked up around the Toad Sage. A strange energy no one could identify flowed into him from an unknown source. Creases in his skin smoothed over, he developed odd red marks around the eyes, his hair and beard grew, and it was best not to discuss what the hell has happened to his extremities.

Jiraiya breathed easier than he has done in a long while. The chakra of nature itself flowed through him, carrying away fatigue and rejuvenating him. He was about to speak in that strange, croaky voice he got with his imperfect transformation, perhaps deliver a gloating remark and show the trio who they were dealing with, when he sensed them and all thoughts of relaxation went right out of the window.

Amongst the thousands of normal chakra signals still active and flaring with activity even at this time of night, he could spot two in the village. He knew one, treated and tried to help her personally, enough that he could recognise it right away. The seal on it was still strong – he was proud of that job – as was the will fuelling it, even if she actually seemed asleep somewhere in the residence areas. The other was a new design, somewhat different, but treated and sealed the same way probably by Kakashi, although the will powering it was much less firm. The complexities involved were also giving the counter-seal far more trouble than the other one's too, based on what he could tell just by sensing at a distance.

These two were expected. That was not what got his attention. It was the four new ones right outside of the village and heading inside, quick, evading guards with a precision that made Jiraiya take a mental note to have a conversation with Tsunade about patrols. From their movements, they seemed to be going for the main hospital, bypassing tempting targets without hesitation. The human chakra around them was on the powerful side but nothing unheard of, however their marks were stronger than either of the two in the village. At first they felt the same, but he had a creeping feeling that the marks were… dormant? With the strength in them even in their current state, Jiraiya expected an increase of at least a whole magnitude at full burn. They were fast too and he had a good idea what they were looking for. He didn't have much time. Things could get ugly fast.

Nobody had spoken in the inn since the inhuman transformation, revealing that on some levels of power one begins to leave behind what is conventionally thought of as humanity. And that the name Toad Sage was most aptly chosen.

"The competition is over" He spoke not with the humour of the veteran, but with the authority of the Sannin. He walked over to the Ino-Shika-Cho, performed a set of hand signs faster than any human could and touched Shikaku, causing a small network of sealing marks to march their way across his body, seemingly latch onto something, then fade away back to nothingness. "and you three are now on duty. You're the three best men I have right now, and backup never hurts."

Chouza and Inoichi blinked in surprise, but that didn't compare to Shikaku's bewilderment to find himself again sober. Sadly he was also sober enough to experience the side-effect of the justsu.

"Ow, my head." The man made a painfull expression as his rubbed his forehead along the scar marring it and slowly, deliberately got off the bar stool he might as well have been bound to all night. "Something tells me I will regret whatever you did to me just now in the morning, right, Jiraiya-sama?"

"Oh you have no idea. But come on, boys, we have business to take care of, so let's hop to it. I'll explain en route."

With a laugh at their expressions and a hearty smack of the backs of his new underlings, Jiraiya herded out his men, jumping into the night. He left behind only an amazed crowd, a lot of empty glasses, and a bar-keep who panicked the moment he realised the entire group left, with no one to pay for the small lake of alcohol the quartet consumed.

* * *

They caught up with the intruders over one of the main streets, staying at a distance where they could get them with a single burst of speed, but far enough that the group did not notice them. They had to be highly skilled to be sent this deep into enemy territory, but that training had to focus on combat; their evasion and stealth skills were well below that of Jiraiya and the experienced Jounin.  
To be this brazen regardless they had to be using some sort of stealth jutsu, maybe relying on insider info, or it could be simple confidence. The story of the attack was still being pieced together, but based on the descriptions gathered by ANBU, they could be the four henchmen accompanying Orochimaru during the attack, who set the barrier that cost Sensei his life. If that was correct, then they likely figured if they could sneak into one of the five most powerful ninja villages in the middle of an international event with heightened security, an incursion under cover of night, with the place now strained for manpower and struggling to recover would be a waltz. And it was, all things considered, were it not for Jiraiya's presence, sage perception and knowledge of curse and seal marks.

Following them, Jiraiya went over what little was spotted about the team before. The ensemble looked young, wore a uniform of sorts, different from any of the other villages or those worn by the rank and file Sound ninja during the invasion. Simple, beige sleeveless vests, dark pants and for whatever reason a purple rope belt fixed and tied behind the back. One was tall and heavy set, another had six arms, the third seemed to have an unusually small frame, possibly a woman apparently in the middle of a very foul-mouthed argument with the first while the fourth, who had some sort of hunch on his upper back listened on.

Jiraiya considered his options. He could start a confrontation right now and the commotion would be bound to get him more aid, but at the same time the village was not in the state to deal with another major fight inside the walls so soon after the last one. A second strike like this would frighten the civilians, chase away the merchants and demoralise the troops. Tsunade stepped up mission activity and left fewer people in the village at any one time, but an incident like this would end up making her look weak and misguided. Jiraiya could not let that happen.

The best plan for now was to trail them, observe and try to get an idea of their capabilities, confirm their target. Strike before they can reach the target Jiraiya supposed they were after, turn it into a quiet chase out of town and he did his duty of protecting the long term asset, all the while gathering more immediately useful information. Considering his team, there would be further options too that could serve the village even better. If Orochimaru had one fundamental weakness it was the very daring that granted him so much strength, and this time, with Jiraiya's fortunate presence and if he did things right, it could just be crazy enough to not work AND have a tremendous blow-back against the bastard. He sized up the possibilities. He quietly signalled the Nara and the Yamanaka. They had their priorities, but this was an opportunity for the village as well, one he absolutely did not mean to go to waste.

They hopped lightly and in formation. A brief stop here to avoid a guard, a long route there around a high security area they should have no knowledge of. Their first destination was the hospital but clearly they came up empty. They talked briefly and took to the more upmarket residential areas, settling at the house Jiraiya had suspected, keeping watch.

Jiraiya had his unit stop just the same, make some quiet preparations and observations. Without Ma and Pa, the Sage reserves he gathered for a party trick ran out quickly and it was not a good idea gathering much right now. There was no telling what sensory capabilities their opponents might have, and even if they could not sense natural chakra, the welling of regular chakra in his own system, trying to keep balance, would have given him away much too soon. So he made sure his summon scroll was ready for the fight, checked his equipment, and took some precautions. A small, quiet summon of a messenger was sent to notify Tsunade, asking her to have what ANBU she could spare be ready to contain the escaping group should they slip from him and to make other preparations.

It did not take too long a wait for the kid to arrive. Clearly the boy was up to some heavy late night training, possibly with a fire jutsu, judging from the scorch marks on his clothes. He was trying very hard at keeping a straight back and a neutral expression as he walked, but it was clear to all he was not too far from collapsing. Observing his state, the invaders seemed to break out in a small, hushed but audible argument – apparently the large one and the female wanted to fight the kid and convince him of something, turn his will, whereas the multi-armed fellow and the hunchback were up for just nabbing him as he was. This was not of much use just by itself, not the sort of info that could help reduce their unit cohesion, but it did confirm his suspicion that the youths' stealth training was taken to the level where they could get in and out, but not beyond that. ANBU sign language or anything similar should have been used for a discussion like that, but it was clearly presumed the group would have the sense not to talk, or have little reason to do so. Whatever happened the boy was in danger and any attempts would have to be stopped, if only because rescue operations tend to be more difficult than your standard destroy/capture stuff.

The boy went through the evening rituals, unaware of the tense situation going on just outside his house. Apparently dead tired, he went to sleep almost as soon as he was horizontal. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Another fifteen minutes later, the seeming leader of the group must have decided it was time to move. The moment he gave his signal, Jiraiya made his own.

* * *

Sakon jumped, a single elegant arc right to the window – or that was what he aimed for, at any rate. Out of nowhere he had a large man and a great deal of milk white hair tackling him out of the air. Tayuya and Kidomaru were motionless as if frozen in place, and Jirobo was struggling in the grasp of a man who managed to dwarf even him.

Trying to roll away, Sakon tried not to think of what Lord Orochimaru would do if they did not succeed. Did the attack mean their mission was already over? There was no time to think about that now. Konoha clearly had some defences they did not manage to get information on and they walked right into a trap. As de facto leader, it was his responsibility to get the rest of the Sound Four home, unless their lives could further the success of the mission. The first priority was to get out of the village; strained resources or no, they would be swamped in enemy ninja and even their curse marks would do them little good.

The man who tackled him was clearly one of those being brought back from retirement, strong and experienced but Sakon could already feel inflexibility and some flaws with the lack of active duty come barely needed to rely on Ukon's help to out-wrestle him, and a well-placed kick ensured he had the vital seconds to slip away and distract Jirobo's opponent so the two of them could take their fellows and make a desperate dash out of the village as best as they could. Was this a test by their Master? Did someone betray him? The rush of adrenaline directed his focus elsewhere, gritting teeth in frustration but leaving their target behind.

After a moment or two a sudden stream of foul language from Jirobo's arms notified them that they were outside of the range of whatever restricting jutsu was put on their comrades. They let them get on their feet, and the quartet redoubled efforts to get the hell out, swearing they'd personally end the life of their informant. And in the case of Tayuya swearing a fair bit more besides that too.

Perhaps it was vanity to try and look for achievements in such a failed offensive, but as the panic subsided, things started to look slightly better. Their escape did at least do some damage; the pursuers were struggling to keep up and in terms of numbers remained only the original old and fat men plus two after them. And someone had to put that jutsu on his comrades. Could that mean these idiots were the only ones after them? Maybe they could make a trip to the woods to dispose of them quietly and another back to the village could be made after all, still complete the mission. A cruel grin broke on Sakon's face. They had the drop on them and got lucky, so they must be thinking they can pursue Orochimaru-sama's elite guard? Oh, they'd have fun showing this rabble of Konoha trash the depth of their mistake!

* * *

Jiraiya was measuring the distance. By now they were in the outskirts. Another minute or two and they'll be out of the village proper, maybe give it another for the invaders to consider their options, then try and set up an ambush or counter-attack. Assuming the invaders did their homework on the surrounding area as well as the town, he knew just where they'd try to turn the encounter around.

For now Jiraiya worked with the more likely scenario, musing on the few known factors. Ideally their target would stop on its own. From that point the first goal was to take them out quickly before they engage the marks, but presuming it was as quick as the ones he'd seen, there was little chance of that. If his earlier senses did not cheat him, their marks would have a much greater potential yield than the earlier design too, so there was most definitely a dangerous angle here. Another fly in the ointment was the unknown jutsu and other capabilities of their enemies – the strange, anatomically impossible move the hunchback pulled had Jiraiya suspecting a certain kekkei genkai, one he'd investigated regarding a suspicious string of deaths that just happened to be very beneficial to Orochimaru's goals. He'd have to focus on that one himself – if the technique was what he thought it was, he had the best chance against it. The large guy with the mohawk moved slow and heavy, moreso than his build alone would indicate, which could mean someone focused on a similar close combat as the Akamitchi, meaning it would be best to deadlock those two while the battle is decided around them. Of course, it could very well be a deliberate attempt to mislead, or he could have some greater trick up his sleeve, but you didn't become a clan head by not learning how to handle that.

That left Nara and Yamanaka in a two-on-two combat against Arms and the girl with the potty mouth. Least known capabilities, but since the other two seemed to focus on melee, he'd expect these to be more capable on the long range, unless Orochimaru's insanity included his aptitude to setting up skills. A gamble, but with favourable enough odds. A quick exchange of hand signs assigned targets for each member of the team and informed him of a certain aspect to Yamanaka's jutsu.

There were a lot of unknowns at hand. They did know that at the Third's death Orochimaru's men managed to pull an impressive barrier jutsu, they didn't know whether they had access to any summons, what tools they had, they did not scout out their fighting style or personality.  
But then Jiraiya was a Sannin, now commanding the Ino-Shika-Chou trio. A nasty grin that would have impressed even Orochimaru spread across the Toad Sage's face. It was time to make another entertaining, if short story for his audiences.

* * *

Finally, Sakon could breathe easily. They were now outside the village and the immediate range where the Konoha idiots might get backupin time. He stopped, as did his team shortly behind him. Their enemies were annoying with the way they interfered, but clearly also weak and more importantly stupid enough to pursue beyond the village wall. Nevertheless, if not much else then the value of caution was taught to him by life under Orochimaru-sama. The Sound Four took positions, ready to take the clueless idiots trying to trail them.

Tayuya and Kidomaru covered the long range, himself and Jirobo readied to take the front. The enemy used a similar set-up last time, so it would be down to the quality of the individual units in a proper fight. A combination of debilitating genjutsu and accurate shooting would be good against whatever the other team was likely to have kept in the background, they just had to avoid being surprised and put under that movement stopping technique, whatever that was. He knew he was well above the white haired man in terms of skill, and once he took that guy down he could go and tip the balance in the remaining fights, wherever it was needed. But just to be safe…  
He gave a nod. The four of them concentrated. Unique patterns trailed their skin, which then reddened and developed their own deformities as they engaged the second level of their curse mark.

Surging with the power Orochimaru bestowed upon them, Sakon almost felt pity for the useless scum following them.  
This fight was already done.

* * *

It was a warm and pleasant night. The walls had seen plenty of action recently, but they still gave off a sense of security and calm.  
Not just anyone could be a wall guard in one of the five great ninja villages, especially not on the _night shift_. Men and women with special qualities were called for. Good vision and reflexes were a must of course, as was excellence with ranged weaponry and jutsu. You had to be good at maintaining attention, regulate your sleep cycle to make sure you never dozed off on duty. Eternal vigilance had to be your motto - during your shift at least.

So the fact that sometimes people could just sneak in and out of the village was a bit of a blow to the old ego. You did your determined patrol route, you made sure you investigated anything suspicious, and a few times did your sad duty when someone had enough of the ninja life, did not want to retire normally or just wanted to hop out, maybe to see a peasant girl in the next village he had a thing for. Hopefully in most cases you could show some mercy, but sometimes you couldn't. The point was that the job took a lot of skill, and took a lot out of you on the best days, and on its worst ones it took a little bit of your humanity. But you had your pride and duty. So when you found out via an urgent update that someone got in through your lines and you were to let them pass on the way out as one of the _real_ , big name ninja are after the perpetrator, you tended to get a bit upset.

From a concealed position, you watch four strangely clothed intruders leave the village. A heartbeat later you see, just for a fraction of a second, one of your childhood heroes, a man who a few weeks ago summoned a huge toad and kept another massive monster at bay while you fought for your life with a damn kunai against another poor sod, hop over your wall in pursuit. Three younger but likewise celebrated and admired shinobi follow his lead. Your training, your inner genin with starry eyes and your dreams of greatness all urge you to move after the bad guys with all you got, to really make a difference – but orders are orders.

Being where you are means you have some pretty good senses, and you can make out some of the signs of battle from the nearby forest. Clangs of metal on metal, the occasional scream, large flashes of light that hints at jutsu being thrown around which you could not even fathom or reproduce even if your chakra reserves were doubled and you had a week with the appropriate scroll.

Sometimes, being a Konoha ninja was enough. You wore the headband, you did your missions, obeyed your superiors in the pursuit of duty and you were skilled enough that it was easy to impress people, say, peasant girls from the next village.  
But at times like this, when you realised that at the end of the day you are little more than fodder and a backdrop to the big guys' lives as they did their big adventures, pulled off risky manoeuvres by the seat of their pants conceived at the heat of the moment, not to mention also pulling brand new, incredibly powerful jutsu out of their backsides every month or so, well, it was all you could do to not cry at your own insignificance.

Resuming your patrol, you keep an eye out for the forest, listen on. You hope that you could be as powerful and important as the great ones someday. You _really_ hope you get to get through the day without being drawn into that fight in particular, because by the signs you'd last a grand total of five seconds.

The flashes and screams died down after a while.  
Four living legends casually strolled back to the village.  
And you still had four hours to go before your shift was up.

* * *

Tsunade listened to the report.  
She'd never have admitted to the fact, but she was very glad Jiraiya remained for a little bit before heading back out to the field. One part of that was the fact that without him on hand here, things could have gotten much more hairy. She'd considered setting some ANBU on watch around the Uchiha brat as soon as she learned of Orochimaru's intentions, but she felt like it was an intrusion and a measure much too controlling and punitive to an already imbalanced kid who's technically done nothing wrong.

The other part as to why she was glad Jiraiya was around for a little bit was the fact that he was a man she could trust when it came to the important things. Beset by advisers and right hands seeking to control her at best and undermine her at worst – and _someone_ supplied Orochimaru with the information to get his elite unit into the village, possibly even with the Crushing of the Leaf - it was good that he was there for her to rely on, and that such a person was probably the most directly strong one in the village.

He successfully captured two of the Uchiha's would be kidnappers who were currently prepared for questioning and examination under Ibiki's tender mercies, and got some interesting information on Orochimaru's latest abominations unto nature. A new way to build an army and gather power, every bit as degenerate and wasteful of human life as one would think.

Besides the captives they also gained bodies. Well, a body and a two-headed statue that learned it was not such a good idea to try using a chakra-merging assassination move on someone under Sage transformation. The other onewas a proper body, but one of limited value. Inevitably when an Akamichi goes up against an equally sizeable opponent, things get crushed and good luck telling the various types of damage apart. Cartilages, bones, armour, rocks, trees or buildings, but something would end up in a bad , there was hope that a post-mortem examination would turn up something useful, even on a retracted and in death inactive seal. If nothing else, confirming one's suspicions was always worthwhile. Not to mention a handy excuse.

"Right! Shizune, you look after the paperwork and the councillors, I have a date with a corpse!" Tsunade was all too happy to get away from the office, already looking for her favourite pair of gloves for the occasion.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune never did get the idea that assistants are not supposed to voice disapproval, and if nothing else her tone carried that perfectly. That and the stack of papers she just dropped.

"Ah, you know what I mean. Anyway I haven't done proper medical work in days, and this is just what I needed. If anyone is too much of a bother, tell them that I'm elbow deep in guts and if they don't behave the next ones to stain my arms will be theirs Bye!" Tsunade was halfway out of the door when something unusual happened.

When did the little girl get that fast? It seemed only yesterday she took her under her wing and tutelage. She used to be so adorable and demure, but eager to learn and hanging on her every word. To look at her now, practically puffed up with determination you'd think she was assaulting the capital itself, and the fire in her eyes made you think just for a moment that she had a fighting chance.

"Tsunade-sama! Please remember your responsibilities!" The woman, these days almost as tall as Tsunade herself stood in her way, bowing deeply. "We are no longer on the road, and you are needed as the Hokage! I am more than capable of handling the examinations of the bodies and you are the one the village has chosen to be its leader. Please just let me handle the medical situation!"

She said the whole thing under one breath, and small hints of terror already crept into her expression as she raised to face her master. One would think that years spent together on the road would erase a lot of formalities, but with Shizune they only enhanced them. Still, they were working, Tsunade hadn't had the heart to deny her, even if it meant taking on the more tedious job.

"Fine, fine, it was just an idea." She took a page out of Jiraiya's handbook of gestures – now _there_ was a sign of desperation – and smacked her aide on the back loudly while laughing. In her state, only something big and obvious would be sure to get through to the poor girl, and if she was to handle corpses, she ought to calm right down.

"Off you go, then, but don't botch it up or I'll be on you like a ton of bricks!" There was always a limit to calming people down, however, she thought while listening to the sound of Shizune scampering along the corridor.

With Shizune joining the illustrious company of Tsunade's old friend down in the labs, there was not much to it but getting Tonton out of her chair, making preparations for the nitty-gritty with the two intruders who still lived and more importantly patching up the compromised village security network. To do that she needed to still come up with a list of people she could trust, rework their already strained schedules, brief them on what happened, explain some key matters they'd need to know about and shake up the security arrangements. Premonition was not among her talents, but nonetheless Tsunade could feel a distinct lack of sleep coming up in her future. And she would gladly share that bounty with all her top jounin.

But before that, preferably still in the small hours of the morning: to dig up everyone involved in the planning of village security and varying of patrols, securing the internal flow of information and management of chakra detection barriers, yank them out of bed and yell her throat raw at them. Some people have gotten a little bit too comfortable and relaxed about the performance of their duties – at least she hoped against hope that this whole business was only because of that.  
Right or not, a good, therapeutic yelling session was precisely what the doctor ordered.

* * *

Jiraiya stood at the side while Shizune played the pathologist and examined the body for tell-tale signs of any useful information that could be gleamed on Orochimaru's methods these days, occasionally guided by warnings from him. Ninja often booby-trapped their bodies in dangerous missions in the past, and although nowadays the custom has died down, Orochimaru was precisely the sort to stick with that particular tradition. He made some measurements of the curse mark periodically: the residual chakra levels in it, trying to look for any possibility of a very convincing false death trick being played against them, making notes on how the curse mark behaves in a dead body and how the design of the blasted thing has changed since last he saw them.

Beside him, half dozing was Mitarashi Anko, a previous, unfortunate acquaintance. He could still recall her as a bright, eager and sweet little kid not all that dissimilar from a certain loud-mouth in orange he knew, blindly trusting her sensei, who was then still his best friend. Such implicit faith was rewarded by the honour of being one of the first human subjects to his experiments with the curse mark that demanded the lives of her two team-mates and which for years arranged sessions with him, trying to remove it at first, then to contain and seal off. To her credit the girl recovered admirably and managed to get away from her education and treatments sane, if still as one of the most erratic and notoriously strange personalities in Konoha. Some of that was probably her own behaviour, but from what little he saw of her, there was a lot of coping in there too.

Jiraiya has followed Orochimaru, Akatsuki and a dozen other organisations legit and criminal, dangerous and potentially dangerous as a matter of daily workloads. He thought that the most disgustingly vile thing he's known of was Orochimaru's body-snatching technique, having discovered its formula in a deserted lab, and quickly burning it right after to make sure no one in the Leaf or anywhere else could have access to that depravity. It overcame even the previous candidate, a ritual of the then-upstart Jashin cult, which, in hindsight he should have just given in and killed all members of then and there.

But his old friend managed to outdo even the body-taking technique in the form of the curse seal. The materials involved in its creation were rare, but relatively simple, however the function was more repulsive than anything else to the Toad Sage, on the functional level as well as on the personal. He'd remembered showing off the fruits of his training on missions. He'd remembered the hunger and obsession in his friend's eyes, which he back then cast aside as simple jealousy, a victory to treasure. He'd even answered a few of his questions, and a bit later saw him be visibly frustrated about something.

From what he could puzzle together after the fact, Orochimaru entertained the idea of achieving eternal life through establishing a connection like his with the chakra of nature itself, then deepening that connection to the next level, only to have his ambitions crushed by the fact that his own reserves and body were simply not adequate to the task. So he went and put together that contraption of a curse mark, killing some just by injection, overwhelming the chakra network of others, making some plain old insane with power or pain. That was the version he finally dared inject into his own pupils. And then afterwards, it appears, spent years on making further complications and improvements. The mark could refine much more natural chakra for the user now, seemingly by introducing a tiered formula. Based on their bursts of chakra he sensed in the midst of pursuit he had a working theory of what was going on, but to be sure he'd have to examine that and the inner working of it on the live captive, nasty as that was too.

He allowed himself a small, sad grin while watching Shizune dig around the insides of the intruder. Were he present, his old friend would doubtless have made it a point that when trying to achieve a goal precious enough, the 'good guys' were always happy to set aside conventional morality, especially when it came to the stopping of those who did the same but on a slightly more permanent basis.

"Hmm, that's strange." Shizune riled him from his thoughts. "Jiraiya-sama, is this… liquid metal? It still has residual chakra in it." She finished with the final preparations, and while Jiraiya was off in his own world, began to cut the seal out of the body. Cutting through the skin on the non-marked areas should not have produced anything like that, but there it was.

"Let me see it." Jiraiya was quickly on his feet, with Anko now standing at full readiness should something go wrong."That is damned peculiar. Before, when I looked at the previous versions, the seal used some exotic, chakra sensitive snake venoms with an ink basis."

"It did look like an ink seal when I made the first check." Shizune looked concerned. Examining dead bodies was not her favourite in the best of circumstances, and this was hardly run of the mill stuff, either.

"That must have simply been the surface level, then!The first one works with a simple ink, gets the chakra going, and when you have enough it launches the second phase! That's how he managed to get such a complex jutsu into such a small seal! When activated, the first stage must form the seal basis of the second one! It's basically two different ones, embedded into one another!"

Jiraiya frowned in thought as Shizune scrambled to store samples of the liquid chakra metal.  
"Hold on a minute. You got this while cutting through the vein right? Let me see that tissue." He took a careful look following the medic's hand."That came right from the blood stream! How did he do that?"

"Why is that so significant? I didn't even know any liquid metals were used to create seals on humans."

"They aren't, not that I know of. Most use a simple ink, or any other light substance that carries the chakra of the sealing technique. Depending on the strength of the technique, a large number of materials, each rare and precious, can house a sealing technique on the skin permanently. I've seen small bits of solid chakra-sensitive metal being etched onto the skin for that, for very powerful techniques. But this? Blood cannot be a carrier for seals and marks, because unlike the skin, scrolls or equipment it is nowhere near static enough in anything living to take to it. You might as well try to place a seal on a single spot of the river, the water that you put it in is long gone by the time your first set of seals are complete."

He began pacing, talking to himself more than to his audience now. The old creep with far too big an appetite for women faded away, and left Jiraiya, his era's prime seal master and toad summoner behind.  
"Let's see… blood is impossible to put a seal on, but let's say it isn't, just very, very difficult and the bastard's found a way."

He made a sharp turn, followed by Shizune's and Anko's gaze.  
"What are the benefits? It travels through the body, so whatever technique you embed in the seal, you are putting the body with much more direct a contact with the jutsu. It would still originate from the seal, but the blood would carry it throughout, allow the kind of chakra level to be used as I've seen before, and it would explain the controlled transformations too."

His face crumpled up.  
"But the strain on the body, the sheer pressure on the chakra network would be enormous. Not that he'd care about that…"  
He went on, muttering to himself, trying to wrap his mind around the idea.  
"… so yes, presuming that the impossible is just very difficult, there are some big possibilities to doing it, provided you don't mind shaving decades off the victim's lifetime, possibly drive them crazy and subject them to huge amounts of pain as they use the technique. But how do you put the seal on the blood?"

"Transfusion?"Shizune volunteered.

"Interesting idea, but the sealing matrix could not take to it. Something as drastic as a transfusion would shatter the jutsu and likely kill the victim. Shizune, do you or Tsunade know of any techniques that allow complete hibernation? I mean a full stop to your blood flow while it's where it is supposed to be."

Shizune thought for a minute but came up empty.  
"I don't think there are techniques that do that completely. Slow things down, sure, but not stop them."

Anko blinked. She was not alone with her personal knowledge of her sensei, but even the Sannin in front of her first know him as a friend. Her own experiences, good and bad, were different, and for an orphan who did not really have much in the way of truly deep relationships before, the way that caused a desperate and personal bond with Sensei, regardless of how repugnant a man he was, meant so much that she often felt she understood him just a bit more than others. This was not her usual field of expertise but there was a thought creeping up in her mind that simply clicked just into the right place.

"If the blood were to be stopped, you could put a seal on it, right?" She stepped closer, looking at the seal and dreading the answer. "But you can't do it because any way that could even come close would also kill the subject. But what if you kill the subject first, apply the jutsu and then bring them back?"

"That does fit into how he thinks." Jiraiya snapped his fingers, joining Anko in staring at the bodies. "If there is an insurmountable barrier in your way, have it work for you. Hibernation doesn't work, transfusion is out of the way, but using death to cheat it, that would be just his sense of humour. If you brought a victim just to the point of death, with enough controls in place, the body would be still enough to etch in his nasty handiwork as deeply as he wanted."

Anko tore her sight away from the corpses bearing the same mark as she did, and made herself skim through the list of items recovered from the intruders.  
"Here we go! Small glass bottle, filled with pills thought to be for suicide. Ibiki did mention that having them separate was strange, since most people just go for the old hollow tooth trick in case of capture."

"But suppose they were to feed them to Uchiha when they kidnapped him…"Shizune joined in.

"…they could give him the pills, bring him to the brink of dying, and then put the mark on him?" Anko took over. "But he was marked already. That doesn't click."

"Only Orochimaru would know the technique to mark someone. He'd never trust anyone else with it." Jiraiya shook his head, running over decades' worth of sealing jutsu theory in his mind, trying to find Orochimaru's angle. "What if the first tier of the mark takes immediately, but the second, the really important part would need that near death state to kick into action? Or maybe you need to bring them to the brink of death, then the lackeys here would perform the activating jutsu for the second. They would not know the whole thing so they could not turn it against Orochimaru, but they could make good use of it for him! We got it!"  
And just as he said that, he visibly deflated.

"Not that it gets us much in the short term. The liquid metal is very rare stuff and I can put out feelers for that, but it doesn't help us defeat these monsters any easier. All there is to it is some old fashioned elbow grease and trying to find out more. And a couple of tests, but let the kid sleep a bit for now."

Placing down the scrolls for diagnostic jutsu and coming up with tasks for Anko to carry out as the team's busybody, watching Tsunade's apprentice get to work on the corpse again, Jiraiya sighed with rare fatigue. They had learned much and won themselves a treasure trove of possible information, but damn, did the ordeal tire him out.  
The universe, Nara had explained to him, had a way of spotting blissful uselessness, even if his only lasted half a night, and invented women to find and eradicate it all. Just his luck, instead of women it threw a gang of agents from an enemy at him, with twisted and corrupt versions of his own greatest power. And who knew what could have happened if they successfully nabbed the Uchiha kid?  
Well then, if it averted the possibility of his bratty godson risking life and limb chasing after his friend the same way Jiraiya himself has after Orochimaru, and getting his first taste of chuuninhood in a doubtless failure against those four, he reckoned his tiring night out was well worth it already.


	4. Basics, Elements, Fundamentals

**Chapter 3 - Basics, Elements, Fundamentals**

Naruto stifled a yawn. Shikamaru flicked away a fly.

The two newly minted chuunin spent much of the morning waiting at training area twenty. Compared to the more scenic and dramatic training fields, this one was an exercise in simplicity and meeting perfectly ordinary needs. It did not have grand waterfalls, canyons or deadly inhabitants beyond the shinobi regularly coming to train. Most of the ground was a large, grassy field with a range, a small artificial pond at its centre and a few circles of bare soil of about three meters radius scattered about, with small clusters of trees here and there, all bearing marks of recent practice. Perhaps the single distinctive feature of the place was the dense and high hedge, less an active preventive measure to keep trained ninja from spying on their fellows training, and more of a polite reminder for privacy.

Shikamaru laid back, stared at the sky. If he squinted just right and cocked his head the right way, one of the clouds looked remarkably like a big fan. Or a shell, or a bird with a huge wing, but mostly a fan. So far the training session went just according to his tastes, however his fellow rookie did not seem quite as happy to while away his time. It was becoming a substantial bit of pain to refuse Naruto's challenge to a fight to kill some time.

"But come on, it will be fun!" The plea came again after a blissful half hour of Naruto contenting himself with basic physical exercise and trying out a selectioin of dulled practice weapons he found in a nearby tool shed. "You'll see, I'm on a roll, I bea- I almost beat Sasuke yesterday. Honest! Bet ya a bowl of ramen you can't keep all my clones tied up in that shadow thingie of yours."

"Correct. I probably couldn't get too many, but I don't feel like fighting." It was Shikamaru's turn to yawn, long tired of the visage of Naruto pacing around the tree he was leaning against. "Besides, maybe having to settle down and wait is the first lesson we're meant to learn. Wasn't there something about patience in the Academy? I think I woke up for some of that lesson."

"Patience? With Kakashi-sensei? Pfhah! I bet he's off somewhere reading his dumb book again. Hey, wanna play cards? We'll be here for hours and I'm bored."

"Not really my game." Shikamaru said, wondering whether that other cloud looked more like a dog or a deer. "Why do you even have cards on you?"

"I still had an empty pocket and couldn't think of anything else to put in there. So, wanna deal?"

The Nara gave up with a smirk. At least this was less troublesome than having to fight the guy.  
They played one of the most popular ones among shinobi, favoured for its simple rules that nonetheless allowed the game to become a mix of mental wrestling and luck, quick sessions that went well with the sort of breaks that could come along on missions, and more importantly the steel edges laced into the cards that encouraged cheating as well as made for almost decent throwing or cutting weaponry in an emergency. It was no shogi, but Shikamaru has played it enough with Chouji to get a taste for it.

What was surprising, however, is that while Naruto made an eager series of questions about how Shikamaru's parents took his promotion and made a spirited effort to express how he was going to present Iruka-sensei with the news, Shikamaru found himself having to concentrate on a strangely frustrating game.  
Naruto either preferred not to cheat or the idea didn't occur to him, he was ridiculously easy to read and predict, his entire strategy may as well have been spelled out in his expressions as he peered into his cards. Or so it seemed at first. Shikamaru quickly learned that probably without ever even meaning to deceive, there was a fundamental arbitrariness to the way Naruto played. He'd quickly piece together a dozen strategies based on Naruto's moves and his knowledge of him, to be left utterly flabbergasted by a move he never thought would make sense to move. Try adjusting to that mentally, and he'd only be surprised in a new way.

Of course that alone didn't turn the tide of the game at all or even gave a perticularly hard time for Shikamaru to beat him, but it had him wonder if it'd be worth it to work out a way of getting him to understand the rules of shogi. Asuma's expression alone could just be worth the trouble.  
And speak of the devil, before Naruto had a chance to challenge him again, he was disrupted by the sudden appearance of two jounin in a puff of smoke. It was uncommon in Shikamaru's experience to see his sensei get about in any way faster than a comfortable stroll, but judging by Naruto's expression, such a sight was a regular thing under the jounin.

"Sorry, sorry. We had an important meeting to attend to. Village security stuff." Kakashi offered little more than a light laugh, directing away Naruto's frustration with the automation that indicated a sort of ritual between the two.

"Yeah right, sensei, now and a dozen other times." Naruto too grumbled his bit in an equally routine manner, coughing from Asuma's attempts to re-supply the small cloud of smoke from the earlier jutsu. Preoccupied with trying to wave the foul stuff away, he added "Next time at least come up with a better excuse, will ya?"

Being used to Asuma's habit, Shikamaru has already made the cautionary step to the side for precious air, musing on the oddly relieved face the jounin lit his cigarette. Like he hasn't had any for a while, or if he was stressed out about something. Village security might not have been that much of an excuse, and by the looks of it, Naruto's teacher took issue with the accusation as well. There seemed to be a break in the rehearsed give-and-take, and on the visible third of a face he was beholden to the scariest expression he's seen since Gaara of the Sand.

"Now, Naruto, remember what I said yesterday about insubordination?" The man's expression lasted just for the briefest flash, enough to get Naruto to freeze, and even the memory was in absurd contrast to the still light and cheerful tone. "That applies to you as well. Since we have a lot to do today I'll pretend I did not hear it, provided you won't complain either. Do we have a deal?"

"Y- yes sir!"

The sheer commanding power behind those words, even directed at someone else, seemed to act on Shikamaru's spine without the interference of his brain. He found, just like Naruto, his trademark slouch right itself in a most worrying way. Bad premonitions of high expectations and almost no chance of sleeping through them dawned on Shikamaru, without a single word yet spoken to him. Asuma's light chuckle at his behaviour didn't help much, especially with the terrifying aura around the other jounin disappearing as quickly as it had come, revealing a Kakashi much more fitting to whatever little he had heard about him around town.

"Now that is settled I say we get to business." Asuma's relaxed tone took charge as he surveyed the unusually meek chuunin in front of him. He exhaled a small cloud of smoke contentedly. "You've both done well to get this far, but now comes the hard part. Kakashi and I have talked this over and compared our observations." Another drag of the cigarette and Kakashi continuing to be passive was enough for Shikamaru to risk relaxing a bit. "There will be some joint sessions later on and we've been talking about switching you two between us, see if there's something we can teach the other couldn't, but for now let's stick with a one-on-one start. I for one definitely have a lot to talk to you about, Shikamaru."

* * *

As the duo departed, Naruto too risked dropping the larger than life standing at attention that his body seemed to adopt at its own volition after sensei's remark. It was one thing having seen him fight for his own life and that of his genin, quite another to face a bit of that killer intent on his own skin. Like how the usual Ero-Sennin disappeared when they faced Orochimaru, or how Granny behaved now compared to how she was when they found her, there were times when you just did not mess with them. Years of habitually acting out the silliest thing he could to make people pay any attention has made it difficult to gauge just how he was to act at times like these, but even to naruto it was obvious that if he was ever to make sense of it, it was now. Thankfully Kakashi-sensei seemed back.. or almost back to his regular ways, eyeing Shikamaru and his sensei leave for their corner of the training field.

"Right, I think we'll begin with… oh, you have a question?" Thankfully he did not seem angry at the disruption this time, spotting Naruto hesitantly putting up a hand.

"Um, sensei? How do you do that? The voice and all?" Naruto asked, resisting the urge to mimic Sensei's gestures as he dressed the team down the other day. That would likely not be taken too lightly, a thought Naruto never would have thought would occur to him about his teacher.

"The voice? That's a good start." Kakashi turned towards him in explanation, signalling his student to follow him as they too went off to a distant corner of their own. Stuck in a half-run, trying to keep up with an adult's legs, Naruto followed. "Projecting authority is one of the basic skills that you will need to learn, so we may as well begin with that. And while we're at it, let's work on getting you into the habit of thinking for yourself. I'm not expecting miracles, but I have seen enough of you to know you can do better than you have as a genin and you will need that skill more than the greatest of jutsu. Describe this 'voice' to me. What's different and what does it do?"

Naruto cocked his head, tried to think. He'd come to expect most answers from adults to be confusing and full of big words no one's ever bothered to teach him, and being posed a question just like this was a new thing to be certain.  
"Well, I guess it's not just your voice but your whole, sort of… attitude?" They finally settled in the shadow of another tree, getting a larger cluster between their own and Shikamaru's training. Busy with the question at hand, Naruto still found the keeping of secrets like that a bit strange, but didn't dare ask about it. Once stopped, Sensei stood like a planted scarecrow with arms crossed, keeping his eye on his pupil. He was not the force of nature he seemed like not that long ago, but now he really looked at him, Naruto wondered how he managed not to notice qualities like that underneath. He always knew Kakashi-sensei was awesome, but first hand experience not as a protector but commander gave him a whole new appreciation as well as a healthy amount of fear of the man. Finally, focusing on the differences, he started putting it together, chancing the crucial one he finally spotted. "Back in the hospital you stood differently, looked at us differently. Oh, and you don't have that book anymore!"

"Good start. I do have the book, but I'm not reading it like before. Why? Because this is a serious matter and I need you to take it seriously too. That is also why I got you to stop whining about my timing." The answer came calmly, but with just a hint of the firmness new to Naruto.

"But you never had a problem with us behaving like that or complaining about you being late before!" Naruto insisted, trying his best not to cross the newly established line of behaviour.

"Before, you were a genin so it was okay for you to play silly. Frankly, it was cute and I hoped time and experience will sort out such things, but you and the village was denied that comfort. Now as a chuunin there are standards of behaviour, responsibility and respectability expected of you. You will need to give orders and expect to be obeyed; you will need to be able to talk with clients and civilians with several times your life experience." Kakashi's finger rose in the typical position of a lecturer, talking to Naruto in a patient, clear tone as he explained. Naruto wasn't sure why the mask betrayed sign of a smile when he instinctively nodded, focusing his attention he's never done before in the Academy. This really did sound like important stuff. "At your age I was a jounin, and let me tell you, both you and Shikamaru will have to learn how to handle that visible an age difference. For very different reasons, both of you will have a hard time at the start, but part of the training is to help you get there."

"But wasn't the whole thing about insubordination that others can't just talk back like, uh, like I did? And if I'm a chuunin people should know I'm good at the command stuff and do as I say anyway, right?" The question came on its own, but fortunately did not seem to offend Sensei as much as amuse him.

"I'm afraid it's the other way around. Did you think just because you have the rank people would obey you?" Breaking the spell of commander, Kakashi squatted down to put himself on the same height as his pupil and roughed up his hair. "People don't respond to just names and rank, you have to have genuine leadership. You have to trust whoever is assigned under you and you have to expect them to trust you in turn, have some real teamwork. Why do you think that was the first thing I looked for when I tested Team Seven? You'll have to make them feel they are part of a team that's more than just the sum of its members, you will have to lead them, inspire them. If you do, you will be able to help your friends move forward, support them through situations that alone they could never face. If you don't, if you fail as a leader, tragedies will happen that will haunt you for the rest of your life."

Naruto took that better than Kakashi had expected him to react, with merely signs all over his posture that he was disheartened. Certainly it was better than how he handled it when it was his time, by completely disregarding the advice. When he was that young and the new rising star of his generation, such warnings seemed pointless because nothing bad was ever going to happen and he was going to live forever. It was almost funny how wrong that was.  
"But just between you and me…" Kakashi continued "… I think Hokage-sama chose to grant you a promotion precisely because you have a lot of the right qualities to be a good leader. You have been doing a good job turning Team Seven into a real team, and over anything else it is that dedication and spirit that earned you that vest. I'm not going to lie, I have my work cut out with you. But if you do your best, we'll make a great chuunin out of you. Can I count on you?"

"Yes sir!" As if someone flipped a switch, Naruto was back to his cheerful, normal self.

Kakashi celared his throat and stood back up, looking down into the face of his pupil. Gai-esque speeches were definitely not his strong suit, but he seemed to cheer up nonetheless.  
"Good. I suppose that brings us back to the overview of your skills and where you are. Naruto, you remind me of an old teammate, both in your best qualities and in your worst. Your pranks, the moves you devised on the fly during missions and in your spar yesterday all point to a creative and unconventional approach, all very valuable in a unit leader. I would not have accepted the task of training you up if you were not, beyond the superfluous boons of chakra, a good fit for the role. You have a talent that can move people. The right words and actions to the right person turned a village of fearful fishermen into a fighting force. None of the examiners missed how you rallied the genin in the written exam and in the Forest of Death you broke your teammates out of a terror none of you were prepared for. In that, you are already an exemplary chuunin. My job is simply going to be to jump you to a level where you can reliably do this and keep the people entrusted under your leadership safe." Kakashi smiled as his pupil tried to hide his embarrassment with a loud laugh right out of Obito's book.

"That said that job is not going to be easy. Some of your essential skills are barely at graduation level. From what I can tell you practiced alone a lot, which for the most part simply grained in some of the worst habits you could get. We will hammer those kinks out, go over the foundational principles of taijutsu and weaponry. You may be unpredictable and that's fine and dandy, but we will be going over the basics of conventional strategy just the same, so you know when it's a good idea to depart from it and go with something of your own. Then there's a few more ideas I have that I think…"

Naruto's expressions, Kakashi reminded himself, would have to be another area to improve if there was time. He could practically follow the inner discussion bouncing round in his head, debating whether making the obvious question would count as insubordination.  
"Sensei? I think if I try to learn that much in a short time I will die." He confessed in a fearful tone. The instructors of the Academy probably would have agreed.

It was not, however, something Kakashi was prepared to accept. If all you looked at was just the surface, he could see how one would arrive at this conclusion, or how the boy may have thought that about himself. But looking underneath the underneath was one of the most basic skills of shinobi, and you hardly needed to do that much to spot his willpower, if motivated enough.  
"You learned a difficult technique from the scroll you took from the Hokage's office in a single night, probably just a few hours." Kakashi reminded him. " You learned a very complex chakra shape manipulation technique that is only known by a handful of people in a matter of weeks. I have confidence that you can master what you need... or rather, that I will be able to make you master them if it means keeping your team safe. Besides, I have in mind a method that could help you save time, if not energy. Remember the restriction I placed you under while fighting Sasuke? Think about it for a second, then tell me why I did that."

"You didn't want me to just blow Sasuke straight away with my Rasen-" This time, Kakashi did not have to even try looking serious or frightening, Naruto shut up on his own. There was hope for him yet. "Sorry, sorry. It's about that weird feeling with the clones, right?"

"That's better. Continue." In the short time he had for preparation since learning of Naruto's promotion and the training he was expected to provide, Kakashi found himself under great pressure. The Hokage mentioned the way Naruto learned the Fourth's technique, which seemed the best method to use with the boy, but getting him to work things out for himself, without providing explanations to pick apart, letting him learn by going through the motions and experiencing the logic of all he'd have to teach on his own skin, well that was going to take a hell of a lot of energy.

"I noticed that they were sort of better when I didn't make loads of them. And, uh, this may be weird but I think that a few times when I sent one into the forest where Sasuke hid and he dispelled one, I sort of got to know what it saw?." Feeling silly with his response, Naruto made a face. Silly or not, however, it seemed to be the right one, judging by the expression and nod he got from Sensei.

"That is because that is the original purpose of the technique. Unlike the illusory or elemental clones, a Shadow Clone has a unique aspect in that it's not just a chakra construct." A set of hand seals too quick for Naruto to follow resulted a shape emerging from the ground and assembling itself into a copy of Kakashi, then dispelling itself as quickly as it came. "It is a real, linked copy of your mind and when the technique is dispelled, what was learned returns to you through the link. It is also, certainly until you have gotten a lot more used to the mental strain and learned how to absorb the information quickly and well, why a small number of clones might work better than a whole mass of them. If you create three, you will be able to tell each what angles of attack to cover, and if they are destroyed the valuable new information stands out. If one in hundreds sees something useful, it is lost if you are not looking for it."

"How hard do I have to look? And how much is lost? I sorta remember what other clones saw in fights, but it's all a blur, mostly." naruto went over some of the memories from the clones he barely realised he had. Being impaled by sand and weapons, suffering Neji's Gentle Fist strikes. And there was also the memory of taking another form in the Sexy Jutsu and being ogled at by Ero-Sennin. Naruto was not sure he liked the whole memory gaining thing.

"It's blurred because you still haven't used the technique for long, so your mind might not be used to it. What I can tell you is that you seem very resistant to the mental strain presented by the technique. Beyond the chakra that mental component is a heavy burden for a lot of people to bear, even with just one clone." Kakashi explained, then ventured into less certain territory, less a passing along of information and more a simple wondering aloud. "Maybe it is natural result of your abnormally large chakra reserves, maybe your psyche was strengthened by that which was sealed in you under a constant pressure to resist it. Because of that resistance your mind was strong enough to automatically discard what must be an absolute flood, and it is also why, if we don't overdo it, you will be able to tolerate it and absorb useful information properly."

"From a bunch of clones, all at once? Like, one clone learning a jutsu and another throwing kunai? Sweet!" Naruto almost jumped for joy, barely containing his excitement at the prospect of great strength he was sure to gain.

"It is hardly as simple as that." Kakashi did not much like resorting to Tenzo's methods of gaining control of the sheer energy in the ge- chuunin, but he had to admit they worked very well on Naruto. A simple trick of hardening his look at him seemed to do the job of a bucketful of icy water. Oh, what he wouldn't give to give this simple information to himself when he first took charge of the team. "Let me make it clear for you. You are still relatively new to this technique. You have used it a lot and seem to have a knack for it, but that does not alter everything. I have used the Shadow Clone in spying missions enough to know that the toll on your mind will be taxing. Every stray thought, every new experience, every step, when you focus on regaining the information becomes a barrier between you and the actual thing learned. You can't do anything about it consciously, it is down to your unconscious mind to take care of all that for you. It will be a bit hard on you, but that is the best way I can think of to make sure you and the people under your command are safe. Are you willing to take that strain?"

Naruto thought hard about this. He wasn't used to serious choices and preferred to just go where his guts led him, but this was different. Kakashi-sensei wanted him to think for himself more, be more responsible, know what he was doing and why. Frankly that did not sound like too much fun, and once the excitement passed, neither did learning through clones. He wasn't much good at studying regularly, and this sounded even more upsetting. But if it could be the thing that would save a friend's life, could he afford not to do everything in his power to prepare?  
"Yes, I think I am."

"Good. We won't use too many clones. This is not a way of training you've done before, bloody bravado will not get you anywhere." And, Kakashi thought to himself, it might be best not to strain his chakra network too much. Tenzo was up to his elbow in missions, unavailable to keep a certain prisoner's seal in check. He concentrated and went through the hand signs, producing three clones. "Naruto, you'll make twelve clones. One of mine will take one of yours along, they will start going through simple tactics. Another one of me will take six others and work on your taijutsu because frankly it is your second weakest area, almost as bad as chakra control. The last of my clones will take the final five of yours, and start going over the academic knowledge absolutely necessary for a chuunin. I have seen your answer sheet from the Exam and that will _not_ do."

Seeing Naruto's surprise and disappointment, Kakashi could not help but laugh.  
"Not the type of training you expected, is it? After weeks with Jiraiya-sama I can see how this might seem small time. But think: was there a single time when your own taijutsu, one on one, did not have you losing badly? You have gotten better over the missions, and normally I'd trust time and practice to hammer out your flaws naturally. But we haven't got the time for that. By the time I'm finished with you, your taijutsu form and tool use will need to be at a suitable level. Even after it you won't be able to go toe to toe with a specialist, but it should give you some better fundamentals as well as skills in coordination."

With a gesture he sent off his clones, and Naruto's ones followed them, still somewhat reluctantly.  
"Besides" Kakashi continued "there is one more thing we will do that might make you a bit happier, give you another ace up your sleeve. But the most important thing is that you own the skills, your own as well as those on your team, and use them well. Part of that is giving you lectures to think over, try to teach you the principles you will need to apply."

As the clones and their replica sensei took off for some privacy for the lessons (no use in letting Naruto get distracted by Naruto's antics or Naruto being too loud, was there?) the real Uzumaki himself was visibly annoyed at the prospect that his taijutsu technique was lacking, but shortly yielded to the facts. He was using clones in the bell test, and it did not achieve anything. They would be useless against someone like Lee, never mind the monsters out there, like Orochimaru – it was only now he realised what the perverted old man meant when he said it would just be a waste of chakra. Against Mizuki and Gaara he used their sheer numbers, not actual skill. The times it worked best were frightening that mob on the bridge, getting out of Orochimaru's snake and deceiving people. The only times it worked against skilled fighters was when he used few of them, like against Kiba and Sasuke.

Finally he gave in. "Okay sensei I think I see it. But then what do I do? When we were told we'd get special training I thought it would be a new, cool jutsu like the Rasengan! So what's that ace?"

"The ace will depend on what we are about to find out about you. Before we get there, however, let's consider that Rasengan of yours. It is not very much like other offensive jutsu you have seen, right? It took the Fourth years to invent it, yet it is fundamentally a simple technique. It just needs you to take your basic skill of chakra shape manipulation and improve it greatly, enough so that you can directly channel your chakra into the most dense, most complex formation possible. There is no great secret, no special clan restrictions on it. Even without the Fourth or Jiraiya-sama teaching it to anyone, people could conceivably replicate it. They don't, however. Why do you think that is?"

"'Cause it really hurts trying to get good at keeping it together?" Naruto didn't even need to think of it, he automatically scratched his palm. The burn marks were long gone, and skill with the technique let him get away without hurting himself anymore, but developing his skill at the technique was one of his most painful experiences.

"Possibly so, but there is another reason. And as you will surely learn yourself, for most people learning a technique is almost always a difficult and painful business, except for, well, some lucky few." Kakashi stopped himself just in time before mentioning the Sharingan. Naruto did not need that right now, nor was it pleasant to think of the sheer difference he experienced between learning jutsu seal by seal and relying on his gift to do decode the technique for him. "There is a more conventional path to jutsu, more worth it for most ninja. Other than shape, there is a whole other way of chakra manipulation that gives you similar leaps of power and available techniques. The Rasengan is excellent for your current skill level, and was the best investment of time you could make. Learning it is as much an exercise in handling powerful and condensed chakra as the mastery of an actual technique, which is something crucial for someone in your… unique situation. But since we are increasing your other skills as well, the improvements in your chakra control and knowledge of the ninja arts should allow for you to begin that training too. So first of all, can you tell me what besides leadership, distinguishes chuunin from genin?"

"Better pay? More fun missions? Cooler jutsu?" Naruto was happy to finally touch upon something he understood.

"Well, yes. It is also expected however that chuunin are capable of using at least one element of chakra nature manipulation."

Naruto awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, making a face with confusion. And things were looking so promising there for a minute.  
Not for the first time Kakashi found himself wishing it was Sasuke who was promoted. He'd done most of the work with him already and all that would be left would be to just work on his attitude and maybe try to slip in some other motivations than an obsessive wish to avenge his family. Feeling like he was making progress would have soothed his tempers and allowed him access to materials to further improve while Kakashi began the long and heavy work of getting Naruto and Sakura up to speed. Instead it was Naruto who got there with the help from Jiraiya-sama, the team's spirit was struck and he had a difficult job guiding the tensions down a less destructive path.  
Based on the contents of the meeting this morning, it was also awfully convenient for the Sound to come to kidnap Sasuke right around the time when any insight into the Leaf's structure would reveal not only weaknesses, but information to accurately predict the boy's mental state and frustration. Had they not been intercepted by Jiraiya-sama, things would have very wrong very fast. Events were certainly on the move, and for the next time Kakashi intended to make sure it was preparation and skill that made sure his team stayed intact, not a string of fortunate coincidences.  
Which right now meant getting right back to basics.

"Right. Fundamentals. Create a single Shadow Clone for me." Kakashi's command was followed by an almost reflexive formation of a clone in the distinctive orange. "Good. Now, what did you do to create it?"

"I, uh, made a clone?" Naruto scratched his temple, thinking. "I mean, like, I kneaded up the chakra for it, did the hand seal, poured the chakra into a sort of, err, form I guess, finished the technique and poof, there he was." His copy waved happily.

"That's better, although you meant chakra _matrix_. Most nature-neutral techniques work that way. You simply pour chakra in the right shape into the technique and if you have the right skill, you can do it." Once more a quick demonstration followed, Sensei changing his form into that of Granny's and back, fixing his kunai to his hand without holding it, producing an intangible illusory clone. "Skills like the water walking technique are the foundation for both chakra control and chakra shape manipulation. They are simple, but they are skills anyone who learns them will from then on use practically every day, and that is generally considered practice enough, since most complex jutsu have hand seals to guide chakra shape. Now, demonstrate your Rasengan on that tree."

Naruto did so. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him using the clone to fully form the sphere, but said nothing for the time being.  
"Good. The Rasengan, as I just said, is a simple but deadly technique invented by the Fourth." Kakashi picked up a small splinter torn out of the tree by the incredible shredding force of the technique, toyed around with it as he continued his explanation. "In the right hands it can be an extremely effective technique, used almost as instantly as latching onto a tree with the chakra in your feet, needing no hand signs. It is the highest level of chakra shape manipulation, taking a large amount of it, condensing it, moving the threads rapidly in a sphere shape for an immensely powerful, concentrated technique."  
He concentrated for a split second, and a tiny, tiny dragon shaped flicker of flame appeared around his hand, circling it, then devouring the splinter. Naruto looked on in awe at the simple trick.  
"The better you are at shape manipulation, the less signs will you have to use to make a jutsu work when time is of the essence, and if you know what you are doing you can change how a jutsu you already know works. I refined my Chidori's shape and concentrated it enough through shape manipulation to call it a whole new technique, Raikiri, for instance. All clear so far?"

Naruto gave a hesitant nod.  
"Can you use shape manipulation to, say, make a square Rasengan, then?" The dragon in Kakashi's hand twirled and burnt itself out, as if to pose the question.

"Um, yes if you know what you are doing and are good enough. But there would not be a point to doing it because the way the Rasengan is it is at the height of shape manipulation and, uh, chakra condensation." Naruto answered and tried to sneak in his own attempt at creating a small chakra construct to no avail. The manifested chakra did twirl in a way he was rather happy with, though.

" _Concentration_ , but yes. Good. Now, while shape manipulation changes how your chakra is organised and what form it takes as you release it altering the jutsu in one way, another factor is whether you apply nature manipulation to make the chakra within the technique attune itself to an element. While there are plenty of element-neutral techniques, higher level techniques tend to have an element associated with them that allows a chakra construct to take on qualities desirable for a jutsu."  
Kakashi found himself encouraged by Naruto nodding again, genuine interest and actual understanding in his eyes. There was hope yet, and perhaps he could step up the lesson.

"The Earth Wall technique for instance" Kakashi's technique gave rise to a large wall adorned with hounds comprised of the element "would not be able to retain itself if it was just a technique based on chakra and shape manipulation. To render chakra solid enough to hold together as a physical object for a time, never mind something that can actually block incoming attacks, you need either to change the chakra's nature in the technique to become solid, slow and strong like the earth and minerals themselves, or you need to keep the chakra circulated and continuously replenished, like some chakra barrier techniques, like your Rasengan or the Hyuugas' Kaiten does. As for most people it is far easier to learn an element suited to them and maybe a second one to round out their abilities than to master shape manipulation to such a degree that the creation of such a circuit of chakra is practical, chances are a powerful technique will rely on an element to make itself work. Of course, it is best to make use of both, but for now that's well beyond what we are going for."

"So what you are saying is that to learn a cool new jutsu I will need to learn a natural element?" Hopeful signs, of course , should never be overestimated. That spark of actual understanding was still there, but Naruto returned to his original hopes. Boy, this was not going to be easy.

"…Yes. In a way. Ideally it's not so much learning an element to master a specific technique, though in some cases that has happened before, but learning an element to gain access to the host of higher level techniques that can then be performed using that element." Kakashi let the earth wall crumble, and without signs, channeling the technique to the ground through his feet, formed stalagmites in the shape of canine teeth to rise out from the soil, made it form fake footprints to misdirect possible pursuers, right into a just-formed hole with spikes at the bottom, easily covered by twigs.

"And it's better to learn elements than chakra shaping, right?" Naruto asked, paying more attention to the show than the lesson.

"Not necessarily." Kakashi shook his head and dispelled the techniques with a single movement of his hand, to the visible disappointment of his pupil. Teaching him the basics for techniques of combat, it was all too easy to forget that there was a kid in there as well, for however long still. "Each element has its counter in another. Users often need to rely on long hand sign sequences to properly fire them off. Recognising the element of a technique is halfway to an effective strategy against it. In any case, for someone with your unique situation shape manipulation is a good first step towards refinement, and high skill with it means you will have to rely on fewer signs. The point is that neither shape or nature manipulation are necessarily better than the other, one just happens to be more common."

"The only one I know who uses elements is Sasuke, and he's got two. And Haku, but he's dead, plus the ice thing was a bloodline limit, right? Oh, and there was Gaara and that girl with the big fan from the Sand." Distraction gone, Naruto was back in the lesson at full attention, counting on his fingers the various techniques he has seen.

"Most of the people you know have access to some very special skills. Your generation is rather unusual in that regard, and people of the more notable clans tend to develop uniform, specialised techniques appropriate for their clan's role in the village. Other Genin on the other hand start out with little but kunai and the simplest techniques to their name, but as they develop their reserves and skill and are promoted in rank, by the time they become Chuunin they know at least one element. Whether that is the defensive Earth and Water or the more offensive Fire, Wind and Lightning determines a lot about their later role, and all can be bent to your will, but fundamentally you either use what you are given, or try to master a secondary more suited to what you want." Kakashi coated one finger in lightning, created a small flame at the tip of another and manifested a small, floating droplet above the third, again amazing Naruto. Just here he beat his star pupil; Sasuke was of course not very amused by a show like that and needed only a brief explanation, but in this case he much preferred to see the wondering nature of youth on his student's face. So long as Gai never learned a thought like that crossed his mind at any rate. "Let me be clear on this: with you we don't have the time to learn what your natural affinity is and then try and go for another, what you get is what you have for now. Agreed? "

"Okay! So how do we do this, how do I find out what's my chakra affinity?" Naruto was clearly inspired by the show and wanted try his own, achieving little but coating his hand in enough chakra to have it glow with yellow-orange, already twirling in the way he'd start up a Rasengan. Kakashi found himself once more amused and amazed at the sheer amout of chakra the kid had, for most shinobi his age manifesting enough chakra to be visible would alone be a stuff of wild fantasy. Hopefully he could have him put all those energies to some use for the village.

"We use these. It's a chakra nature paper. Hold it between your fingers, run the chakra through it, and it will react differently for each."  
Kakashi demonstrated his own, making the paper crumble seemingly by itself, crackling with electrical energy. He handed one to Naruto.  
The chuunin tried the same thing with the paper. Nothing happened for a second, but when the paper reacted and split down the middle, Kakashi looked surprised.

"A wind affinity, huh? That's pretty rare in the Land of Fire as the first, natural element. We are lucky, though, as Asuma is the only other natural wind user in the village I know of. He is probably busy with Shikamaru for now so I'll only start you up on the basics, but we might want to talk to him about teaching you on the higher levels. The shadow manipulation of the Nara is something best trained by the family, so he should have the time to spend on you. For now, I have a few ideas to get a feel for the nature manipulation's basics. Don't expect this to work quickly. Later on we will be able to increase the pace by using clones, but for today I want to make sure we are not overwhelming you with as many as we are already using on different topics."

Kakashi settled down and finally, finally took his book out, letting Naruto get at the work of cutting through a leaf by manifesting enough wind chakra for the task. This would take a while, considering it took Sasuke a month to really get the lightning nature down enough for it to be useful in the creation of the Chidori. At least this time the only real time constraint was an irritated Tsunade-sama, rather than an out of control Jinchuuriki, which allowed him to take things easier, occasionally giving a bit of advice. Peering over his book he could see his clone overseeing three pairs of clones going through kata, correcting stances, explaining what and why worked, how to best position oneself, what to strike for.

From the distance the tall, uniformed figure with a mess of spiky hair, albeit of the wrong colour, teaching an overenthusiastic kid practically abuzz with energy and wanting to impress the hell out of the world seemed all too familiar. It's been years since he thought of Obito. By all means he spent hours every day by the grave stone, remembered his subordinate who maintained he was his equal, his teammate who knew more of sacrifice and the meaning of the word 'shinobi' than he learned of it since, and his friend to whom his promise he could not keep. Rin, and so many of the others were long dead. The image of the person faded, mixed with other losses, guilt and emotional baggage from his days in ANBU. Maybe these days he went to the gravestone and saw not Obito, but the idea and measuring stick for shinobi that he would never live up to himself.

So to remember the loud, obnoxious, clumsy little brat who used to annoy the hell out of him and see him in one of his own pupils, his sensei's son at that, was a mixture of obtrusive, amusing and a very welcome opportunity to wax nostalgic. Maybe this time around with the cards reshuffled, things would turn out happier. 'Obito' was in charge of the team now, and he would make it damn certain that he'd be ready for whatever came.

* * *

Of course, that was just one perspective he had at the time. Different clones in different situations will certainly reach some very different ideas. The clone entrusted to give Naruto a quick course in what he should by all rights have learned in the Academy, for instance was busy discovering huge gaps in his education and trying to explain why certain moves worked and why others did not. In particular having to hammer in an explanation as to why empty theatrics were plain stupid and only got you or your team killed, and doing all this with five Narutos chorusing, arguing, asking silly questions and generally being Naruto meant that this one was far less awash with benevolence at the time.

As for the one tasked with introducing his Naruto to tactics beyond preparation to pranks or at least applying the principles to unit command as well as doing a basic review of decisions he made with his previous fights, well…

"Why on Earth did you not summon one of Jiraiya-sama's toads against Sasuke or Neji? Do you realise how incredibly powerful summons, especially as legendary as the Toads can be?"

"What do you mean you can only summon Gamabunta himself or one of his most junior progeny? That makes no sense! Why haven't you taken the first opportunity to try and summon one of the less gigantic ones who can still help out in a fight?"

"What do you mean you were too busy? The main me is trying to teach the main you the fundamentals of elemental techniques to try and give you an ace, yet here you have been sitting on one of the single most useful techniques a shinobi can perform. There are hundreds in this village alone who'd kill to get their hands on that contract!"

Once the clones returned to the originals, it was obvious that had Kakashi decided to ever discuss those memories with anyone, Iruka would finally have gained someone to commiserate with over the promises and many, many missteps of his student. Jiraiya never would have gotten involved in such conversations, mainly because one suspected he made his own sensei voice more or less those very same concerns in his own time.

* * *

By the afternoon Asuma was rather pleased with the results of the training thus far and Shikamaru was getting more of a workout that he'd ever had in his life. As clans went, the Saurtobi were flexible and laid back, but even among them the Hokage's younger son was known as exceptionally relaxed, trusting the world to sort itself out for him. Sure, he had moments where the nonchalant haze that was his personality coalesced into a hard, determined mass – such was the case when it came to his past stance against some of the more questionable decisions his father made, threats to those he cared about (particularly a red eyed mistress of illusions), but it could not be denied that he resorted to that approach when there was no alternative.

This manifested itself in the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio getting lighter training compared to Teams Seven and Eight, never mind the tortured existence of Team Gai. In all fairness Asuma did have every good reason to be more free with the reigns: unlike Kakashi he did not have two students at his hand without any access to decent techniques and lacking the diligence in training that comes naturally with clan culture, and unlike Kurenai who also had specialists with unique techniques all to themselves, he did not have to actually instil the idea of teamwork in them or how they were supposed to cooperate as a unit. The trio under him was practically groomed for the role from birth. That was not to say that Team Ten or Asuma himself did not work hard, merely that much of the job involved in his work was either already done as a matter of tradition or specific clan skills and he was yet to really get a feel to how best to help his team move forward, save for being a reliable figure of authority and motivation.

They started out with a shogi match. Then came some hypothetical scenarios while trying to hit moving targets with kunai or shuriken, then his shadows. A debate on the best actions to take on a pursuit scenario was broken up by lunch, when Kakashi and Naruto came up to them, bringing news that the orange-clad chuunin had a rare affinity for the wind element.  
It was not entirely unexpected that he might end up with an element more at home with Asuma, and a simple enough swap of trainers was already bartered between the jounin. Naruto would show off the little progress he made and get some pointers on the nature of wind chakra, whereas Shikamaru, to his everlasting joy, would get to test out the feasibility of his ideas for the pursuit scenario against a summoned pack of ninja hounds and their master who was ANBU longer than the boy had been alive.

Asuma was not a hard sensei, but he had to admit, he liked the testing of the idea, as well as the summoning technique. Perhaps it was finally time for him to stop sulking and take up the contract of the family? His brother, the new clan head, was busy with village security and never had a flair for that sort of thing, while the rest of the family was apprehensive about naming a successor to the contract so soon. But they could be persuaded, and the summons might just help him during solo missions or in training the kids.  
Chouji could benefit from trying to wrestle with someone far, far stronger than he is who doesn't need to rely on chakra, some of the apes held very in-depth knowledge of poisons and might be willing to impart some of that knowledge to Ino so she can add them to her existing arsenal from the Yamanaka archives, and some of their elders have seen and participated in some of the greatest historical battles, which was sure to benefit Shikamaru – or alternatively the younger ones could give him or the rest of the team an even more fearsome chase, just for practice.  
As he walked back to the other corner of the area with Naruto, Auma was really starting to consider his options on the matter, liking them more by the minute.

"Very well, let's see how far you've gotten." He usually preferred his trusty lighter, but felt it was far more appropriate to light his cigarette off a small flame technique.

"Oh it!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbed a leaf and started concentrating. This was different from bringing up chakra from the palm of his hand for a Rasengan. He's gotten used to the strain of that, and if Kakashi-sensei's explanation meant anything, it had to be a difference in the kind of chakra used. He tried recalling how the chakra felt when it split the paper, but it was a fleeting difference he barely recognised at the time. It was somehow … thinner, maybe? Trying to replicate it resulted in little except for the tiniest scratch through a quarter of the leaf, not even deep enough to pierce it.  
He looked at Asuma with embarrassment as the jounin examined the leaf.

"Oh dear. You've been at this for a couple of hours now? How are you visualising your chakra?" Shikamaru's instructor sounded strange, shifting the cigarette to the side of his mouth and biting down on it as he talked - then again maybe it was no stranger than the muffled noises escaping a mask.

"How do I what my chakra?" More importantly he had no clue what the hell he was talking about.

"That's not a very good sign." Asuma took a very, very deep drag of his cigarette. Trading pupils, even for a short time, seemed far less good an idea now. "What image do you have in your mind, a plan or idea of the eventual result just before releasing the chakra for a jutsu?"

"Well I never really worried about anything like that before. I just put a whole bunch of chakra into the technique and hope it works out." Naruto seemed perplexed at the very idea. "Do you mean like a jutsu matrix thingie? Kakashi-sensei talked about those this morning."

"At least that's a start." Asuma breathing out could have doubled for a jutsu used to disappear, the small cloud of smoke enveloped them so thickly. It did not disturb the lecture continuing from somewhere inside, though. "A sense of the matrix for the jutsu is the simplest form of chakra visualisation. Start with a basic idea, let your instincts and imagination take over, supply the chakra. But you can be more precise than that. Use a finer measurement, be more certain of what you want the technique to do, try to take hold of the chakra on a smaller level. If you are to manifest natural chakra beyond trace amounts, you must be able to see in your mind the type of chakra you are trying to produce. You have the natural capacity to do it, but it needs to be brought out by conscious effort."

"But that sounds too complicated to be used in a real fight!" Naruto frowned, looking at the remaining markers of the elemental demonstrations from earlier and his own barely scratched leaf. "By the time I am done imagining all the little bits, I have been chopped up and burned to crisp!"

"Don't worry. At first it will take conscious effort, but practice it enough and even though it's more complex, you will be able to do it almost as a reflex, without really having to think about it. You will simply also have a far clearer idea of how the technique works. For now we'll just have you start on visualising wind nature chakra. Close your eyes, try to relax." Asuma watched Naruto shut his eyes tightly, with a face signalling he was either constipated or trying to concentrate.

"Now to start, imagine your chakra, like you're about to use it for a technique. Describe it to me." A voice eerily similar to the Third's rang out as Naruto made every effort to concentrate, achieve a clarity of chakra sense within himself.

"It's orange. It flows around in me. I can tell it what to do." The first words popping into Naruto's mind became the best description he could offer. He never really, really got the whole chakra thing. It was like asking fish to define water.

"Good. Now take a single thread of it as it moves and have a closer look. It's a nice and uniform flow of energy, is it?" The command came again. Naruto frowned and was silent for a short time.

"It is, but kind of isn't? Sometimes there's a tiny little whirl or an eddy here or there I guess." He ventured to guess. Usually when they were taught meditation he just umm-ed loudly and broke out in a snore, to the amusement of his classmates, but this might have just been the real thing, focusing on one's inner chakra.

"That is a good start, although the word you are looking for is 'vortex'." Naruto smelled a new supply of smoke and wondered whether it too formed those little swirls with the funny names. 'Vortex' sounded like a name for to the occasional gadget that found its way through trade to the village from the Hidden Rain. "Take that chakra and try to focus on the vortices, strengthen them. The strongest characteristic of wind natured chakra is its motion. It is fast, flexible and can be a million things, from a cutting and sharp blade made of the wind, vacuum or wind chakra directly, to a whirlwind or a direct gale. It can be the air you breathe out or in, it can be induced with the motion of your arms or just of your chakra, you can use a fan or bend existing wind to your will. Motion is at its heart, and that is what you need to instill in your chakra."

At first the idea of messing around with his chakra was foreign and difficult to even properly try. But as he concentrated on the rivers of the thing felt in his system and got more and more lost as he followed it, the little movements of it became easier to feel. It was not the exception, but the rule, all the motions too small to be seen initially. Almost like one of those strange paintings Naruto studied once to try and make his pranks fancier, a weird chaos was first meaningless, then you started looking at it a bit differently and suddenly it began to fall into place. Naruto could see it in his mind clearly, and needed only to take the idea and make it real. For someone who learns by doing it was an odd, upside-down way of working, but that was what was needed.

He concentrated with a leaf in hand. His chakra changed as it ran through the leaf, as he focused on the idea of all those little whirls. The way they moved looked as if they produced and kept on sharpening a blade between one another. If he could just position them right and move it along the leaf…  
"Aha!" Naruto was pleased with himself. Sure, a real cut through the leaf was only about a third of its length and the line itself was more jagged than it should have been, producing strange scarring trailing off from the main cut, but he was making progress.

Asuma meanwhile did not have the heart to chide the kid for losing control of the chakra merely a third of the way through the intended action. Inwardly sighing, he set out to detail the fundamentals of the element, its creation and how it may be controlled. This would take a lot of practice.

* * *

By the time of early afternoon there were four exhausted people in the field, for a final meeting before an early, abrupt end to the training session.

Shikamaru's idea, it turned out, was good but risky and he ended up having to spend hours trying to escape, outwit and constantly revise as the experienced ANBU was toying with him, pushing him, making him realise on his own where and how he made mistakes. When the final variation of his tactics played out, he found himself surrounded by a pack of ninja dogs, and had to analyse and justify practically every step he's taken since the afternoon's exercise began for hours on end. How would he need to alter the tactic when commanding a unit? How high in number could it be realistically expected to work? But at least that was something he had some semblance of idea how to answer. Questions regarding unit morale and what the best way would be to keep it up, ensuring his authority is obeyed, properly dealing with the effects of a member of the team being lost were a whole different matter altogether. What's worse was that Naruto's sensei seemed, if he really tried to read him, focused on the topic where he had very little in the way of answers, not without real experience of command.

He did not particularly want a promotion, yet here he was grilled on ideas, tactics, pressure handling, recognising the proper way of judging unit cohesion. Shikamaru tended to know when he could get away with a remark or barb, and a fair bit of the afternoon's discussion was labelled in big, red letters as not the appropriate time to be a smartass.  
Playing shougi or applying reasoning to a fight where he himself or people he's worked with would take his commands without question was one thing, but to present himself as a legitimate authority to some of the people he'd apparently be taking command of, well, was probably something entirely different.  
That and some of the stuff later on was genuinely interesting and challenging. He had a slight suspicion that the sort of things he was being taught and expected to complete were well beyond the stuff expected of chuunin, so by the end of the day he had plenty of mental fatigue, to go with the physical from his little chase with the dogs. One hardly needed to be a genius to figure out, given the programme the two jounin seemed to have in mind for him, that he would be on first name basis with exhaustion before the end of training. All because Asuma had apparently explained his supposed genius to the rest of the jounin, a mind best burdened as much as possible for his own good.  
'Troublesome' did not begin to describe it.

Naruto was much more quiet than usual. Part of that was the strain of absorbing the experiences of his clones. When they dispelled themselves and all that memory and mental fatigue hit him all at once, he felt like a mule just kicked him in the head, and he fell over in much the same way. It dissipated quickly and felt different to all previous forms of tiredness, but still made him wonder how he's managed to ignore the clones' memories before. Taijutsu training, basic geography, introduction to field unit tactics and coordination – it all buzzed around in his head.  
The worst was Kakashi-sensei's academic lecture. He could see the sense in learning about poisonous plants and the like, but a bit less of the history . Okay, maybe he'd spent too much time imagining cool jutsu and great battles while the teachers droned away in the classrooms about those very same battles. Okay, maybe some of the stuff he did get seemed actually useful now, with a few missions under his belt. Perhaps most of it would be the same when he got it all straight. But he was sure that if the next few weeks would be like the first day – and he was told they would be – he would have some nasty, nasty nightmares as his poor, tortured brain struggled with it all.

As for the tactics, he found that strangely similar to preparing pranks, with a hint of coming up with interesting ideas, almost like one for a fun story with crazy twists he used to make up during the more boring classes. Examining the mistakes and ideas he had in previous fights with the sensei was embarrassing, but going over big historic battles, the memory now reviewed with the historic memories of the other clones in mind, was refreshing. Especially those experienced personally by Kakashi-sensei were interesting, he even offered his personal account and views on them. That alone transformed a dry subject into a story from the first perspective, with Kakashi reluctantly sharing his concerns at the time and an examination from hindsight of what he did right and where his mistakes lay. For that clone the afternoon flew by fast and Naruto looked forward to what he'd learn next.  
His own development was strange. He had not pushed himself as hard as he would have liked, compared to what he did to master the Rasengan. He was starting to get the feel for wind chakra, but it was taking time and this was merely the first step so far. Mostly what gave him trouble was the task of absorbing a different set of memories and actually incorporating what he'd learned from them, rather than just keeping it as knowledge.

Asuma for his part talked himself dry with Naruto. Through the afternoon he has spent a great deal of time explaining not just the nature of wind chakra, but also how the elements relate to one another, how those elements created by kekkei genkai are unique as valued and feared, how to best exploit a situation where he faces an enemy with an element he holds an advantage against, what to do if he is outmatched with them and so on. The kid even surprised him by immediately realising that if some elements are in direct competition weaker than others, they can be bolstered by a cooperation technique of another element to turn the tables. He'd also spent some time elaborating on direct elemental chakra being sometimes stored in scrolls and how those may be used – he once saw a certain lightning user release a small pond over the battlefield to let the water conduct the electricity to his actual target, which in turn led to a discussion of how elements could, even though there was no direct relation between them, sometimes interact nonetheless.

Kakashi was knackered. Creating three clones was well below his normal capacity, but sustaining them for such a long time was tiring, and reabsorbing their memories was not particularly pleasant either. The Nara kid was impressive and was very similar to Shikaku, but he was too used to strategic games with Asuma to fully apply the skills gained by those exercises to real people and he would need some real, no nonsense experience in the field actually leading people for him to really come to his own. At least Pakkun and his lot had a little fun with the boy who had them chase fake smells, well-placed trails leading to a hastily set up trap and various tricks all day.  
But tired as he may have been, he was proud of both kids. Both did their very best to overcome the areas they were lacking in and showed more skills and determination than he'd expected of either of them. For Naruto he had a few more ideas and he assumed Asuma wasn't yet done for Shikamaru either, but officially with the situation being what it was, all that was left for the day was a final pep-talk.

Fortunately Asuma was experienced enough to not need any signs for that, opting for a simple goodbye as he took his pupil for some private words, and it was all for the better. They were happy to teach each other's pupils a little and help out where they could, but at the end of the day what would be discussed was sensitive and there was little sense in letting other ninja needlessly know of the young chuunin's weak and strong areas beyond the immediately obvious. Information and the acquisition thereof was one of the most important aspects of their profession after all.

Which brought him to another, uncomfortable topic he would nonetheless talk to Naruto about. Wordlessly they watched the departing student and master, until there was nothing but the noise of birds chirping in the hedge filling the silence.

Unsure how to begin, Kakashi patted Naruto's shoulder in a vaguely familiar manner.  
"Well, if my clones' memories are accurate, I have to say you have done well today, Naruto. I understand that it might be a strange experience to handle that, but it is something that's necessary. Asuma tells me that you've made good progress on the leaf exercise as well, and I have every faith in that you will be able to master your element. But don't let that get on your head. Realise that the reason you might feel you've improved that quickly is because frankly, there was plenty of room for it." Kakashi coughed awkwardly. Times like this, he knew precisely why he rejected the opportunities to teach his own genin for all those years. "Now, I have two more things to say to you before we end for today, both more a suggestion than a real command. Firstly, I'd like to talk to you about your new technique."

"The Rasengan? Did I do something wrong?" Naruto's face was still downcast after the sour ended evaluation of the day.

"Yes, you have, in a way. For starters you still need a clone to perform it, but that is not the real issue. The error you made is that you allowed me to know you have the technique when there was no reason for it."

"Huh?" Not the most insightful question of the day from Naruto, but understandable, given the personality.  
Really, such tendencies ought to have been addressed by a teacher back in the Academy, the same one whose failures now burdened him with having to re-tread the fundamentals of shinobi education with his student. He's seen first hand all the ways Naruto was wanting before, but the afternoon's training revealed gaps enough to be beyond merely the kid's own fault. There was nothing for it now but to try and patiently address the issue and hope for the best.

"You have shown it off to Iruka at the ramen stand, correct? And you told him Jiraiya-sama had taught it to you. That is dangerous."

"So what?" I trust him." Naruto's proclamation was admirable, honest, clear, and given the state of the world, a whole other danger just by itself.

"Then why did you do that to him?" Kakashi asked, causing Naruto's pupils to widen in surprise. There was no reason to soften the punch here, it was best to get the lesson to him quick and strong. "Now if someone was to find out information about your capabilities, they could go after him for the info, use him or Jiraiya-sama to get to you. Ninja must always guard their secrets, not just as a matter of rivalry but also as a means of protection. Sharing information about your capabilities is not done lightly, not just with anyone."

"So why go on about leadership and all that crap if you tell me I must keep to myself?" As expected with perhaps his earliest substantial bond with someone still living, Naruto was upset at the very idea of secrecy. and took it entirely the wrong way at that.

"It's hardly that binary a thing." A confused look from Naruto reminded Kakashi of his earlier concerns. "Binary means one or the other. Leadership, friendship, teamwork are very important things. Bonds with other people are what give life meaning, but part of that is keeping the others safe, which can mean you don't babble out information that could make your team a target. And despite that you could still choose to share important information about yourself if you think it is the right thing. Like before, all I need you to do is simply to get into the habit of thinking things through before you act."

"So don't tell people about the Rasengan, then?" Naruto squinted in confusion, as if trying to decide whether his sensei was joking. Perhaps trying the class clown to not show off is a fundamentally futile idea, but Kakashi was going to be damned if he didn't try explain it to him nonetheless.

"If you have no real reason to. And don't use it too much, that gives it away just the same. Same goes for any crucial techniques you may learn while training, unless not only do you trust them but their strength to defend themselves in possession of any info you may share. I dare say Jiraiya-sama is the safest person next to Hokage-sama to confide in, for instance. And at this point, don't bother hiding the clones, that is already your signature move – if I were you I'd keep the amount I can make as much under lids as I can, though."

"I think I understand." Naruto said, with an add look in his eye, deflated but looking Kakashi straight in the eye. "I'll… think about that."  
"Good answer." Kakashi with approval. Better than simply accepting whatever he was taught, that alone was an important first step he just made, and in Kakashi's eyes a bigger one than even if he pulled off a perfect Wind affinity right from the start. "That's all I am asking. As for the other thing, well, I want to make sure that you understand the inherent weaknesses of our current mode of training."

"What's wrong with it? I mean I got a really bad headache at first, but it's gone now."

"It''s more of a flaw you need to know of, rather than something directly wrong. Remember what I said about ingraining mistakes?" An eager nod of confirmation. "That pitfall is even greater when you are using clones. As much as this could be a way of catching up, it could equally just trap you in your perceptions of what works. I will help you as much as I can, but if you rely on just this, a critical human element is removed. My own rivalry with Gai has taught me that despite occasional, well, differences, there is much one could learn when considering other perspectives given by one's peers."

"Oh, you want me to fight Sasuke more? Sure I can do tha-" The previous downcast expression vanished in a second, replaced by an eagerness Kakashi would only typically see on Gai as he made his latest challenge to him.

"Not what I was suggesting. Perhaps a training partner? Someone to compare yourself to, without needing to boast. You already have a rivalry with Sasuke, but right now the both of you need to calm down a bit and besides, all you two can do is compete instead of actively help each other out. Look, there was a real emergency this morning, believe it or not, and it means that the senior jounin will be needed for extra duties. No, you don't need to know what it was about." Kakashi cut Naruto off before he even opened his mouth.

"Suffice it to say that the afternoons will be yours to do with as you please. Same goes for everyone among the rookies getting training. I'd give it some thought as to how best to use that time. The field is open, you are welcome to keep on training, or you can think up someone to train with. As a chuunin, you will have to make decisions on your own, so consider this the first real one."

Naruto watched his sensei depart, his sudden haste suggesting he was seriously late for something again.  
A look around confirmed he was all alone in the field and he had it for the whole day. His first impulse was to throw caution to the wind and get to work on that leaf. He was getting closer and closer, he felt it.

But as he took a deep breath, tried to mentally digest the swarm of memories still in his head, he thought again. He's done a lot today, but didn't actually tire himself out in the old fashioned sense. It would be nice to spar with someone or do something simple to train.  
But a training partner? There was a laugh. Most of the other rookies were not quite as bad as he sometimes thought, but at most they had detention together and hung out after school, on a few good days. But the clans got wind of that and several careful words were had with the teachers, so those few, precious times aside there was not much of an opportunity to get to know any of the other guys. Being a training partner was like being their friends, right? Naruto somehow got the feeling their families would not be too happy about that either.

If he were to ask his team, it would not turn out right. Sensei's tactical insight during their lesson pointed out how much better Sasue was at everything than Naruto. So much for looking underneath the underneath, huh? He'd probably be all uppity about it too. Sakura was no better, she would probably just think it was a roundabout way of asking for a date and pummel him again.

The other guys he knew were all difficult, even if their clans wouldn't just tell him to sod off. Shikamaru was an okay guy but too smart, and it would be more of a chore to get him to train together than any sparring they'd end up doing anyway. Chouji and Kiba too were both familiar but both had their own thing, and a short-lived fellowship is hardly grounds to ask them any favours. That other guy, whose name didn't quite come to mind had some weird but cool ability, right? Eh, it was probably too specialised for them to help each other out.

That was more or less the extent of the genin he knew from Academy, and now he was sure none of them would do. He wanted to make them and everyone in the village realise he was not as weak as he used to be, and he couldn't just go and admit he needed their help. Unfamiliar as he was with having a training partner, it probably involved honesty about things you were less than stellar at. Kakashi-sensei's warning about the Rasengan didn't help much either – if he were to ask someone to train together, it'd have to be someone who wouldn't just laugh at him, someone who could be trusted, but even more importantly someone strong whom he wouldn't just put to danger with his big mouth.

And with that, a memory clicked into place, cutting through the now background buzz of memories. He'd done a lot of things that day. He fought Gaara to save the village. He successfully summoned Gamabunta in battle. He received news of the Third's death. He fought a grudge match against Neji and to avenge the pain he'd caused to a person who'd shared his nindo.

He talked with her the morning before the fight. The memory of the discussion was strange, full of things he did not understand, not entirely. Whatever they were, they made him feel better at the time, and even thinking about it now made him grin for some reason. He hasn't seen her too much even back in the Academy, but what little he saw of her during the Chuunin Exam, she had an amazing strength to her, and she was someone he could trust, maybe?  
She'd called him a proud failure. He remembered the pride he felt at that, his doubts erased. He could have taken on anyone after hearing that.

The grin widened, into that toothy visage that scared so many a teacher or senior ninja. He'd come up with the person to ask to be his training partner.


	5. A step behind

**Chapter 4 - A step behind**

For a village of ninja to become a stable and viable force in the world, for all the rivalries and squabbles, conflicts of interest and political manoeuvring not to crush it in short order several things needed to work perfectly. Fealty to the Feudal Lord, ridiculous as the notion was, was key to present yourself as not a shady rouge agent but a reliable force for good (or at least stability), which brought in the contracts that put bread on the table and shuriken in the holsters. The Academy had to be managed perfectly to ensure the future generations were in good hands, and as the civilian population of the village grew, their concerns had to be listened to without letting them get too uppity. Channels for the few among them who had abilities with chakra to join the corps, for instance, was one of the greatest political triumphs of the Third, a victory over those forces that saw the old clans as more than merely keepers of grand heritages, but true nobility a cut above all the rest.

Considering such ideological battles at the highest offices of the village, then, it was a surprising discovery that the actual clans in question, with the possible exception of the Uchiha, hardly thought of themselves as inherently better than other clans or rank and file shinobi by virtue of birth. If the Fourth has proven anything, it was that regular families of no notability can produce some of the most fearsome warriors that the world has seen since the old days.  
No, the old noble clans of Konoha considered themselves better than everyone else on the grounds that they could do stuff no one else could and made sure they honed their abilities to perfection. Challenging a Yamanaka and claiming you were better than them was no big deal, although it might end up with a duel that left most challengers with foaming mouth and scrambled brains. Give it a couple of generations, and things get to a point where you don't even really need to make the proclamation of superiority; a simple reminder of who is who after a handy demonstration will do that for you as well as for your clansmen for the next good while.

That did not of course say that all other aspects of the clans remained so pragmatic. Perhaps in the days before villages when the continuous battles got in the way of doing much else things were less rigid, but in the new era of relative peace, all of them were caught in the rythm of tradition and clan culture.

Life in the clans was by no means static, but by and large changes happened through a manner of evolution. Sooner or later in the life of any enduring family, significant events happened and inevitably celebration or mourning would follow as relief to the tensions built up during a crisis or upheaval became necessary before normalcy could come back. With some of these events it was judged proper that they be remembered thus annual celebrations or days of note came about which then each developed its own ceremonies and eventually traditions. Years or decades passed by and besides a few new marked days in the calendar here or there, the clan's life was uninterrupted as hundreds of hands did thousands of necessary jobs day by day.

On a smaller scale there were of course changes. A clan head might decide to add a new wing to the compound, or renew and simplify the traditions or law, usually claiming they are dragging the clan to the current century, kicking and screaming if need be. Then that too would become part of the enduring routine. With houses great and small enduring for a long, long time, they quickly became the backbone to all villages, promoting stability by their very nature.

Yet for any one individual in a clan, the overall stability that was sure to resume over time and the greater tapestry of life weaving itself meant little when their personal world turned upside down.  
For the Hyuuga elders, the last few weeks brought plenty of teeth-grinding and protest. For members of the Branch Family, as well as a sizable portion of the Main Family the change brought a sense of easing tensions, hope and a wind of fresh air. Nothing major was done as of yet, but a few adjustments here and there, some previous cases of abuse looked at again, maybe even a little justice coming. Indeed kicking and screaming in vain, the elders were quick to realise that one of the more substantial troubles with an autocratic inner clan system is that while it's wonderful so long as the guy at the head does what you want, things turn sour should there be a change of direction. And whatever got to him as of late, the clan head was pulling the Hyuuga, kicking and screaming if need be, towards another vision of the clan.

That's not to say everything changed right away. There were no light solutions to the needs of the clan. Old grudges did not disappear. And as always, there was still talk, even if on a more positive note. Some members of the Branch Family insisted that it was the show of skill and motivation by the plight of his family that allowed the young Neji to open Hiashi-sama's eyes to some unkind truths. Some in the Main family shot back that just as much as Neji made the clan head see, he too in turn was made to see the error of his own ways, seeing his own disrespect and hatred brought to the surface in his spar against one of Hiashi's daughters. If there was one thing truly static in the lives of clans, it was the ceaseless back-and-forth of politics, the 'who-did-this' and 'who-said-that'.

Nevertheless, for someone as young as Hyuuga Hinata, to whom it seemed the clan was eternal and was always told its good the highest of virtue, the change was on the scale of the moon falling out of the sky.  
She knew her father was a hard man who had to handle unpleasant things all his life and endure like few others had, for the sake of the village and more so for the sake of his clan and family. She knew sacrifice for the greater good was paramount, and understood what it meant when her infinitely more talented sister was chosen as favoured inheritor of the head position for the clan. Hinata knew full well that for all her efforts, she has failed to truly steel herself, understand sacrifice and failed to live up to what was needed of one to be considered worthy of being the clan head. When the moment came in a fight, in itself a humiliation to face her much younger sister as an equal, she proved too weak physically and emotionally to strike her down.

Much has happened since then. The day she became a genin, the words spoken to her instructor by her father, that lived with her still. The words stung, filled her with shame, but they were not angry. They were simple truth, and her father always did have to be a hard man, dealing in truth. And he was correct about her. She'd failed to live up to expectations, failed to even be a good genin, was likely a burden to her team.  
But she has also found her own way forward. For all heir failures Team Eight became a close and effective unit, and Kurenai-sensei's help to her went far beyond of what was expected of a jounin sensei, far from filling the hole in her life that was left after her mother's death, but a very welcome and needed presence. She had found inspiration, and even if not much, but she's managed to change herself little by little. One day she would be someone worthy of such amazing friends, someone who is not cripplingly shy, just maybe someone who could offer a hand to the one whose example saved her from her downward spiral and stand by his side.

For her, the clan and her father have always been a reminder of standards she did not meet, towering heights of excellence that humbled her by their very existence. To see them shift, so immensely and so quickly, well she had no words for that. Farther still looked like a man composed of steel and ice, but he was no actively building bridges with the branch family, who now seemed far more willing to accept extended good gestures. The compound felt lighter, brighter and happier than ever before, more a home than the clan headquarters it had been for most of her life. Given how the clan head's controlled exterior was exemplary of the Hyuuga spirit, the changes would likely be all but imperceptible to those on the outside, but for the two families of the Hyuuga, it was staggering.

As far as anyone could make out, there was a single event that set these changes off. A fight between an outsider to the clan who was dear to her, and her cousin, Neji, prodigy of the Branch family and often viewed as the greatest embodiment of the injustice that has taken hold of the clan. oh, what she wouldn't give to know just what happened, but her injuries caught up with her as she watched Naruto's fight from the stands. The excitement of their earlier discussion, the unexpected words from him that engraved themselves into her memory, and now the sight of his struggle against Neji was hard to take. her cousin's rage, now directed against Naruto, her just watching the fight from afar as if it was some simple show was too much for her still weak system. If not for that ANBU close by, she could have died.

She was deeply ashamed of her own weakness. Useless and unconscious as her village fought for survival, she failed once more to prove her worth or justify the claim of following Naruto's ninja way. For weeks after the sudden worsening of her condition the medics kept her on observation, content to let her out only when a world expert could confirm that she has indeed completely healed. And said expert was the Fifth Hokage herself, found and brought home by another Sannin and Naruto, as if to highlight just how long a road still laid ahead of her. Small mercies, at least Naruto was not there to see her like that, although that also meant that he was not there to see her at all, and probably did not even know what happened to her.

Returning to the Hyuuga compound after a stay in the hospital like that, to see what she was seeing, quite simply made her suspect she best turn right back and have herself examined again. The times her team and sensei have come by for a visit was her only company, and they discussed just about anything but the clan, so to see a change this sudden was staggering. She'd taken care to arrive back home on her own and without any fuss, to find by Hyuuga standards a positive cheer in the air.  
Old habits die hard and she did everything she could reflexively to blend into the background as she returned to her home, too busy thinking about the very idea of the change to truly categorise the signs she'd seen. People's faces were lighter, happier. Someone took an unusual amount of effort to make sure as much sunlight found its way into the house as possible. She even caught a glimpse of her cousin, apparently about to meet up with one of his teammates (Tenten?), probably for training and he was… smiling?

For the rest of the day she saw the same signs, trying to piece together just what happened. There was less anger in the air, no conversations cut off suddenly as a Main Branch member walked into the room. Stranger still, and far out of what she'd expected,, when her father asked her whether she was well and able to return to her duties, it was not with the harsh scorn she prepared herself for. Not a single twitch of a muscle on his face betrayed emotions of course, but she saw none of the signs that talked of disappointment either.

She knew only one person who could have this effect on the world around him, make everything so much brighter and better. That match she could not see, somehow it must have brought out a change in her cousin or her father, maybe both. It did not take much to figure out that the two reconciled and held up an exemplary sign for the branches to follow. She knew she was hardly the most objective of judges of character when it came to Naruto, but her feelings one way or another, that energy and willpower, force of personality that made people see the ' _ought'_ not the ' _is'_ was something truly amazing about him. Clearly it seemed it has now saved not just Hinata herself, but nudged her entire family towards a resolution both families wanted, but neither dared to make the first move towards.

Shino and Kiba never understood why her usual tendency for quietness and shyness overtook her so completely when Naruto was so much as even in the same room. It would be impossible for her to explain what or even how she saw that in him, but how was she to do otherwise? Resisting the urge to sigh wistfully, she decided to drown out the train of thought with work. Unpacking, making sure the warm-up exercises proscribed to her were observed, trying to gather a clear image of the state of the clan and a few hours' worth of Gentle First training saw her exhausted, but satisfied that once more she was on the right path again.  
And, if what Sensei had told her was true, the next few weeks would be an opportunity to do just that.

* * *

The next morning was, despite the myriad little changes, very much the usual. She'd typically risen early to avoid being a bother to anyone and headed out before most others were up. Not out of any particular feelings of discomfort, but she knew that she was made a genin because of her inadequacies and that it was expected that she'd serve the village in that capacity, hopefully finding her strength along the way. That could not be done at home, and the part of Hinata that clung to her pride knew very well that if she restrained herself, she would only lose further ground to Hanabi, taught by their father personally.

The training area the genin were to gather was unfamiliar to her and still chilly in the morning. It must have been for navigation or evasion training, as all it consisted of was a number of tracks and paths criss-crossing a dense forest, with the occasional clearing here and there. The centre had a number of weathered training posts and someone has already brought out a lot of weights, jump ropes and other tools of physical training. Despite Hinata being two hours early, the place was already in use by a genin in a green jumpsuit, wearing away the wooden posts further with a flurry of kicks and punches. She recognised him as one of Neji's teammates, occasionally seen and often heard in the Hyuuga compound. As she approached he delivered his final strike against his wooden opponent, turned and bowed to her politely.

"Good morning, Hinata-san. I do not believe we have spoken before, but it is nice to see someone also rising early to fan their Flames of Youth!" Running in place, he struck a pose that must have meant approval. "My name is Rock Lee. Would you perhaps wish to join me? I will be completing as many laps around the village as I can before the official time to meet comes."

"I, um, I am afraid I can't. I was going to train my Byakugan here." As always, it was hard for her to speak to people, much less to refuse something someone asked of her. Mentioning the eyes which, she realised a moment too late, could well be a sore spot, was an awkward reminder of her cousin and tied her tongue. "I, um, I'm still trying to improve its range and precision, you see. It's nowhere near where it is expected to be. I did not think anyone else would be here." Hinata added meekly.

"And so you set out to train well before duty called! Most admirable!" The thumbs up previously extended towards her was now joined by a radiant smile, which after a moment broke into a conspirational expression with all the subtlety of a collapsing brick wall. "Seeing the honesty of youth, I am truly inspired! ...And since you will be here… Hinata-san, can I ask you a favour?"

She did not have time to even consider an answer, he continued, increasing the tempo of his movements.  
"Should anyone, for instance a nurse come looking for me, could you please refrain from telling them where I am or that I am training? It was agreed that I could come to the session itself provided I took it easy, but I could not bear containing myself any longer and left sooner than I was supposed to!"

"Ah, sure, I can do that. I heard that you were injured in your match. I am sorry." Hinata fidgeted ashamed. Here she was, feeling sorry for herself, talking to someone who happily bounced back from far worse a situation.

"Thank you, but I am certain I've made a full recovery! Hokage-sama's boundless skill and Gai's sensei's wisdom have guided me back to my full vigour! I trust you too are healthy again? I heard the nurses talking that they had you in the hospital until recently as well. Or was it perhaps serious?"

"J-just one. I was let out of the hospital but soon after, during the first match in the arena I got worse and passed out." Hinata hesitated for a moment and made her decision. Her eyes were nowhere near as good at reading people as Neji's and she did not really have the taste for really relying on it, but in this situation she decided to trust them.

Lee seemed honest and eager, someone who would, when it came down to it, be happy to help and tell the truth as his first impulse. He'd have no real reason to sweeten things for her, unlike the retellings she got from her team. He might just give a straight answer to the questions that have been bothering her.  
"Er, Lee-san, can you please promise me that if I ask a few questions you won't tell anyone I asked them? It's very important to me."

Lee was perplexed by the change in her that happened seemingly in just a second. The girl was as unlike Neji as was possible while retaining distinctly Hyuuga features. Her body language, every effort to make her already small frame look less outstanding, almost never looking up, everything about her signalled a fundamental difference.  
But as she gathered herself together to ask the question, she straightened herself out, looked right into his eyes and radiated, just for a moment, intense determination well out of and above Neji's league. Even after having stared into the eyes of Gaara of the Sand, the Hyuuga found a way time and again to show that they are truly something else.

He felt that the Nice Guy Pose just would not cut it here. He did a full salute.  
"By all means! I will never tell anyone, on the pain of death! So, uh, what did you want to know? If it's something to do with Gai-sensei's training methods, I can't-"

"No, no, it's nothing like that." Hinata wasn't sure what she did to frighten the poor boy, but he was practically petrified. There was nothing for it but pushing on. She could do this. "I just want to, that is to say can you please tell me, you know, whathappenedattheendofmyfightafterIlostconsciousness?"  
There! She finally asked the question! Not as clearly or eloquently as she may have preferred to, but she did it nonetheless!

"Huh?" The rock solid politeness and formal speech instilled into him by Gai sensei has carried Lee through many a situation, but it too had a breaking point.

Hinata took a deep breath. She could do this, it was a simple enough question, nothing wrong with asking it, and really, she just wanted to confirm whether her team was just trying to be nice.  
"At the end of my match after I spoke to my cousin, he tried to kill me." She stated simply, as flatly as she could manage. "I know he was stopped, but still caused the damage that kept me in the hospital. What I want to know is what happened afterwards. My teammates told me something and I want to hear what happened from someone objective. What did – she hesitated again for a beat – what did Naruto-kun do?"

Lee blinked a few times. After the first sentence, her actual question was definitely not what he'd thought it would be.  
"Oh. Well, he was really upset. He wanted to attack Neji right away, but I stopped him because any fights should take place in the matches. As the medics took you for emergency treatment, he took some of your blood onto his fist, held it up, and told Neji he'd take him down."

"And the finals? I never saw how that one ended. Kiba said Naruto won when he visited Shino and me after the fights, but he couldn't tell me much more than that because he was busy keeping an eye on the ANBU taking care of me." She finished with her eyes once more cast down. What she's gotten from Lee already gave her much to think about, hope as well as dread, but above all, she needed more details and time enough to process what she confirmed.

"I'm sorry, but I could not make it to the arena in time for that. To think, that for all my own efforts it was Naruto-kun who proved that hard work prevails! But what a hope it is also, the prospect that I too can beat my eternal rival! The struggle shall be great, but so shall be the final result!" And with that, the brief spell of seriousness passed, and he was back to his normal self, proudly declaring to himself the varied list of ridiculous feats he'd perform to beat her cousin, barely paying attention to her.

"Well, thank you for your answers, Lee-san." Such exuberance was a bit frightening, but politeness was far too heavily enforced at home for Hinata not to thank the genin. Hinata bowed in thanks, a gesture that got his zeal to ease up enough for a proper response.

"Think nothing of it! And please remember about the nurses, they are most… youthful, in their own ways. If there's nothing else, then see you later, Hinata-san." The green-clad genin jogged off at speed, and his yells of 'watch me Gai-sensei' were practically a distant echo just a few seconds later.

* * *

Hinata was not sure how to feel. She had heard that Naruto won his match against her cousin, but it still felt strange hearing it as a simple fact from others. For years she's been told that Neji is the true genius and prodigy of the Hyuuga that she should aim to be like, someone whose natural talent for the clan styles surpassed even the incredible natural knack for the martial arts possessed by her sister Hanabi. She's heard branch family talk amongst themselves that Hizashi should have been the twin to be born first, siring a future heir like Neji who would launch the Hyuuga into unprecedented greatness. He was the embodiment of the ideals to which she failed to live up to, who has beaten her within an inch of her life and outright attempted to kill her.  
And he was beaten.  
By Naruto.

She knew he could do it, of course, despite the protests of the rational part of her mind telling her otherwise. If there was anyone who could do it, it was him, and if her clan was behaving the way they were because of that, he did it the right way, however his fight ended. As usual, the rush of hope and inspiration, that faint sense of rightness of the world she felt whenever she thought of him, the gratitude of what he did for her and her family likely without even knowing, they chased away thoughts of her own failure to do anything even approaching that.  
His cheering her on and breaking her fright, allowing her to really stand up for herself for one of the first times in her life was one of the dearest memories she had. His voice letting him find the strength within herself to fuel standing up time and time again after her opponent beat her down, even defy him and break his self-control that was so much like her father's, that was the proudest and strongest she's ever felt. That moment was worth almost any price of pain she had to pay, because she could finally stand on her two feet, look someone in the eye and have no fear, damn the insurmountable difference of strength and skill. She's never felt that way before, and once more, it was because of Naruto.

By all means, being reminded of her cousin berating her in front of everyone was almost as painful as when it actually happened. She's dealt with what has led to it and knew why she made such a good target for him. Knowing of his fate, of the fate of all the Branch families has made it difficult to truly blame him for his anger, yet it would be a lie to say that she found the idea of forgiving him easy. Perhaps in time those things settled themselves, and the changes at home gave her hope that the clan could once more become a family. And family she could forgive.

What could she do now? Knowing that Naruto was upset by her losing did not make losing any less bitter, and in a way, losing in front of the one who inspired and saved her was all the worse – if not for the fact that this was one of the few times she'd managed to make herself be in front of anyone at all.  
She was elated that he cared, that her teammates did not just toy with something like that, but now she was afraid that she would let herself make more of that than what really was there. Her cousin was talking about winners and losers being designated from birth, a very dear subject for Naruto, of course he would cheer her on, rush down and get involved. Reading more than that into it was self-deceiving and just setting herself up for disappointment, of course.

"…but people like you, I really like!" her memory rang.  
She was still not certain the meaning behind his actions, and that would not change until she steeled herself enough to ask the only person who could answer them. But she could rely on what she knew. Looking at him and trying to follow in his steps has bettered her, made her feel like she could change herself into someone she would be comfortable with being. Putting in the effort to change was hard and time and time again she'd fail, but it has made him look at her as well, and that in turn once more made her feel like she was on top of the world.  
Other details like what she missed in the finals, precisely how Naruto managed to win and what his gesture with her blood actually meant for him could wait. For now, what mattered was that she once more was able to do her utmost to improve, inside and out.

She ran up the highest tree nearby and positioned herself on one of the branches.  
She could not do much in the hospital, but she has been practicing a few things, one of them being chakra control. She was always good at it, if for no other reason than for her heritage and upbringing. She had a knack at where and how to release chakra from her palm of course, and the tree climbing exercise Kurenai-sensei had them do was easy as well, but going beyond that, even the weeks in bed with little else t do but try and refine her grasp on the rest of her system barely nudged her forward there.

For now she focused herself on refining her ability to activate and control the Byakugan once more, or more at ease at any rate. There's nothing to break one's mental focus than taking in a whole ward full of grievous injuries and people screaming in pain. Ninja were expected to handle sights like that of course, but she couldn't help thinking of her own missteps leading to not being able to ward off not even one attacker.  
The Hyuuga martial arts and especially the Byakugan required a certain mental balance and centring of oneself to achieve calm and clarity. Sometimes she could do it right away, sometimes she embarrassingly needed to go through the hand signs just to even properly work up the chakra for it. Sometimes, when everything set itself right, her Byakugan's range of vision expanded well beyond anything she could handle or believe was possible, enough that she never even dared to ask the elders about it. Other times, in a difficult mission when it was critical that she do her part she found she could barely activate it at all, or the range of vision gained was practically useless for scouting purposes.

If she was to master her ability, she would have to get back to that state of mind and learn how to get to it reliably. Being beleaguered by questions of self-worth, whether she will ever be able to earn her father's respect was not particularly helpful in that. Neither was the crushing knowledge of her shyness that forever muddled her words and sapped her of confidence that even to the one who has given her strength time and time again she could not begin to express her resounding gratitude or to reach out to him and be the one for a change to give him strength and faith despite wishing to do nothing else.

For the longest time she struggled to set it all to the side, get them out of her head, only to find the task impossible. She tried focusing so intensely on one thing or other, be it a physical object or idea, that it occupied all her thoughts and would dwarf all others, to no avail. Besides doubts unique to her, there were more… down to earth, and incredibly embarrassing problems to lead her astray. One of them would doubtless be you being one of the first ones in your age group to be hit by puberty, when inevitably her mind would wander to places that surely no decent one should, such as additional reasons for fully mastering the Byakugan and controlling precisely how many layer one sees through, a topic considered very much taboo in the clan.

Suddenly beet red, she struggled to remove the bad thoughts from her mind. But as she did so and took the mental equivalent of a cold shower, she started to reconsider. Maybe what she was doing was the root of the problem. She was trying to remove, ignore and suppress ideas that bubbled up naturally.  
While most of the classes in the academy dealt with the more practical end of biology from first aid to knowing where best to inject what sort of poisons for what goal, there was a series of special classes set aside separately for girls and boys. It introduced them to some of the changes that would come with time, how to train responsibly as to not impede the nature of these changes (all villages had to bear the future in mind after all), and Kurenai-sensei too had a private little talk with her, discussing some things with perfect frankness, hinting at some others and dispelling the horror stories rampant in the Academy about the sort of missions kunoichi might be asked to go to.

(On average, female ninja made up somewhere between thirty and forty per cent of the working population of the villages, and that is a number of expert murderers, poisoners, trap makers, masters of elemental jutsu, illusionists, practitioners of hidden clan techniques and who knows what else that no sane head of village or mission organiser would wish on their bad side, were some of them so inclined or unscrupulous enough to consider the idea in the first place. No matter what a certain Yamanaka read in a series of novels she most definitely had no business reading.)

Hinata took a deep breath and shook her head. She needed to concentrate. To do that, she needed self-control, and controlling someone she was unhappy with, whose body, world and now family was also changing was not an easy thing. For now, all she could do was try to come to terms with the fact that changes were happening, hopefully for the better, and if the smallest bit was down to her own efforts, they would be.

That resolution seemed to help her come to focus. Eyes closed, she felt her chakra flowing around in her coil system. She followed their routes. Strengthening the biggest, most obvious chakra routes connected to the muscles made speeding herself up or strengthening her strikes easy, even if the latter skill was not of much use to a Gentle Fist user. Using the chakra in her various other senses worked much the same way.  
Concentrating without signs she made the chakra flow to her fingertips increase, and the tree trunk went from a rough, jagged surface to an intricately detailed map of veins and scars underneath. Direct it to her ears, and the forest became an echo chamber of birdcalls and various animal noises until the experience made her dizzy. Flow it to the nose and the branches came alive with tracks and various animals marking their territories in a million and one ways. Of course these exercises were not terribly useful for ninja level sensory abilities and just directing chakra to her nose was a far cry from anything approaching the level of an Izunka, or anything really practical when it came down to it, but it did make for a nice lead up to where the use of a little bit of chakra, for a Hyuuga, would change the world. Without hand signs, just making her chakra flow where it had to, she channelled it towards her eyes.

"Byakugan!"  
The world around her paled, her field of vision expanded. For all intents and purposes she could see in a perfect sphere around her in much greater clarity than before. The ridges she felt before she could now see, the animals whose signs she detected all accounted for. Against the ghostly view of the world, even their tiny chakra lit up distinctly if she focused hard enough. But there was more. On a branch of the next tree, on the other side of the trunk there was a nest. With eggs in it. She concentrated at them, saw through the shell and looked at the tiny new life forming inside. It was both amazing and slightly disturbing, and put her off of omelettes for the next few weeks.  
She carried on, trying to gauge the range of her Byakugan, currently manageable, and the precision of control over it. With just this much, not relying on the hand seals, produced a drain enough to be felt, but she wouldn't let that dishearten her. There was work to be done yet.

* * *

An hour and a half later she descended from her tree, hoping that a bit of rest would get her back to speed before things started up. Using the Byakugan for extended periods carried with it serious chakra cost, and just this much on-an-off practice with it had her feeling light headed. For the few minutes she still had before people would really start turning up, she enjoyed the opportunity to just close her eyes, and as a finish-up exercise go over the smell- and hearing enhancing routine. The techniques were of little use against anyone who made the right precautions or in a real combat situation, but it did give a bit of advanced warning of people approaching casually, plenty enough to avoid looking strange.

After ten or so minutes she finally got some company. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru shared her tendency to arrive early, and it was nice to talk with them outside of a hospital room. To them, a training session with Kurenai-sensei was hardly out of the ordinary, but what with a larger group and another jounin coming too, there was plenty of room to speculate just what their training would consist of. Kiba laughed himself to tears, thinking aloud that Gai would force Shino to wear those horrible jumpsuits, to which the insect user responded - complete with the customary readjustment of sunglasses - that Kiba's own wild hairstyle might be exchanged for a bowl cut by the end of the day. They discussed just who else could be coming along as well.

They knew there was at least one promotion, and the boys agreed that if anyone, Shikamaru had the advancement in the bag, that is until his idiotic giving up. Who else was there? Uchiha had some neat jutsu to his name and there was a brief but relatively spirited exchange on whether Shino himself should have been promoted.  
The back and forth gave Hinata some time to reflect. She was caught up in so many other things, she hardly realised the reason for the group training. Missions would be handled differently from now on, they'd need to meet higher demands, face more dangers, she realised with apprehension. As fun it would be to guess at who would be promoted, her thoughts were filled with dread at the idea that she would no longer have Kurenai-sensei to rely on, or the team she felt she really belonged to. It wasn't like that night, she wasn't losing her or them, but it's one thing to realise that consciously, quite another to tell that to he cold grip holding her spine. She struggled to hide the shiver at the very idea, growing more quiet and preferring to just listen on to her friends' conversation and keep an eye on the field coming alive with fellow genin.

Tenten and her cousin arrived, asked about Lee, then set down on their own to talk and wait for the team's third member. Everyone could hear the arrival of Akimitchi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino by her loudly and proudly declaring her missing teammate as a new chuunin. Lee finished his last lap and joined Team Gai to begin an enthusiastic conversation regarding the healing powers of youth, how amazing the Fifth Hokage was and how much he personally owed her, and how with his newfound health he would redouble his training and surely surpass Neji. As the rest of the group watched and listened in quiet horror to his declarations, the last arrivals too joined, namely Uchiha Sasuke and a cheerful Haruno Sakura, just barely on time, but in no hurry whatsoever.

From what Hinata recalled of Kurenai-sensei making small talk with Asuma-sensei once, Team Seven's instructor was not exactly the sort to show up on time, and one time he made the Third himself wait for three hours for a non-critical update, who in retaliation considered briefly declaring him a missing-nin to teach the man a lesson. Perhaps he applied the same principles when it came to his team, who by now were used to this? If so, would that mean that Naruto is also late? She hoped he would not get into trouble with Kurenai-sensei.  
No one raised the question as to where Naruto could be. By most it was generally assumed that until his presence was known he was either at the ramen stand or up to whatever general No Good it was that he was doing. He may have made a good impression on everyone, but habits die hard.

Hinata was just ready to talk to Sakura and risk asking her about him or try to activate her Byakugan just in case she can spot him when her instructor popped into existence in the middle of the field. Yuuhi Kurenai was smiling, but for those who knew her for a substantial amount of time and were of the perceptive persuasion, she was displaying clear signs of being frustrated and distracted. Hinata also doubted whether she had much sleep during the night; she looked tired. Trying to suppress a small blush, she observed that it was definitely not the kind of sleeplessness she showed the morning after they returned from a longer mission either. Something was up, and she had to be called up in the middle of the night.

Clapping delicately, but with surprising sound, she grabbed the genins' attention and killed any conversations not immediately ceased by her arrival. The old Academy behaviour coming back on its own, the genin stood at attention.

"Team Kurenai?" Her smile widened looking at her students, she seemed to shake off whatever burdened her.

"Accounted for and ready, Ma'am!" Kiba stepped up, always the most eager to be the voice of the team. Well, one of the voices anyway, with Akamaru's happy bark acting to confirm his statement.

"Team Gai?" She turned to the other complete trio, eyes fixed on Neji just a fraction of a second longer than on the others.

"Err, accounted for and ready, Ma'am!" Tenten beat Lee to the punch by a second.

"Team Asuma?" Was it just Hinata, or did sensei put in just a little slur in saying his name? Oh Sage, she hoped she never did anything of the kind when mentioning Naruto. Well, except the.. well, the stutter. Drat.

"Accounted for and ready, Ma'am!" Ino stepped up as spokeswoman for the team, after two futile kicks to Chouji to get him to do it instead.

"But not at full strength, correct?" Kurenai hinted, making Hinata remember her mentioning Asuma's disregard for rules and the more or less non-existent will to abide by the standard protocols.

"No, Ma'am. Team Asuma is one short. Member on assignment: Chuunin Nara." Ino's self-satisfaction upon the official status of the news was palpable and the smile she flashed at Sakura was not very nice at all.

"Very good. Team Kakashi?"

"Accounted for and ready, Ma'am." Sasuke reported in a carefully controlled tone. "Team Kakashi is one short. Member on assignment: Chuunin Uzumaki."

* * *

The reactions varied. Shino raised an eyebrow. Kiba broke out in a self-satisfied grin, having given a hard time in combat to a chuunin. Neji, just for a second, allowed himself a small smile. The rest showed clear signs of surprise, but for the most part they seemed happy for Naruto and moderately worried for their own skin the moment the realisation hit that they might be commanded by him soon.

Hinata felt a mixture of emotions. Vindication and being glad for him were first and foremost of course, followed by a hope that he will do as well as she knew he could, and maybe even lead missions she was assigned to. She could feel resolve well up in her that she too would prove herself come the next exams, and that until then she would dedicate herself to becoming enduring, confident and strong.  
But underneath all that there was another voice as well, merely whispering that despite all she did to remake herself, he seemed to be marching ahead ever faster, leaving her behind. If her goal truly was to walk side by side with him, then he just made a huge leap ahead and despite all her efforts she felt like she was getting further from her goals instead of making progress.  
With some effort, she snapped herself out of her defeatism. There was no time for it now to begin with, and it was selfish and wrong to be frustrated about other people, especially him, forging ahead. She was _not_ being left behind, she was being shown the way forward and ought to follow, through the fires of hell if need be.

Kurenai left a few seconds for people to process that. She knew she herself needed a fair bit more. The kid certainly held promise and in all fairness he made Hinata try harder just by simple cheering than Kurenai ever managed with instruction, understanding and kind words, although she suspected that he had a very much unfair advantage in that. He had a very entertaining match against Kiba, and a much more promising one against Neji, but in her opinion he lacked a lot of maturity needed for the position. And now it was her (and if he could make it, depending how the meeting went, Gai's) job to ready the genin for the tasks ahead and ensure that they too were at a level appropriate to go on missions with someone other than their instructor. After last night. Drat.

While waiting for Gai to arrive too and take over his part of the job, she had them practice kata in pairs, spotting flaws and correcting them. Simple and something she could do in her sleep.  
"To warm up and allow me to see what I'm up against, we shall begin with light combat practice in pairs. However, I've made it a point to pair you lot up so as everyone is up against either someone larger and stronger, or smaller and more nimble than them. Focus on going for a perfect form and it will help you out just fine. So far, most of your missions were easy and simple, and while the peasants or highwaymen you may be faced were larger, an academy-level use of chakra alone put you leagues ahead of them in terms of power. In the coming months that will change as you go out on more serious missions. You will face people as or more skilled at chakra control than yourselves. So something as basic as form and discipline could end up a deciding factor. You will need to know how to handle that. So hop to it!"

Kurenai set up the pairs, evaluating the genin in her mind, making notes on who did what right, where would there be areas to improve. She was not by any means a physical combatant, but she could do the initial research for Gai to work on the basic and advanced forms, then if need be, lecture bit and see how the genin's skills are.

That and she could carry out an evaluation for the two girls Asuma and Kakashi roped her into giving simple genjutsu training to. Fair enough, she was a genjutsu specialist and her own students did not have the aptitude for the arts. Hinata did not have the heart to trap people in living nightmares you've personally prepared for them, Kiba was much too focused on taijutsu and ninjutsu and had a far too rough-and-tumble approach for this sort of thing, and Shino, an otherwise perfect candidate, was ruled out due to his allies making his chakra flow too uneven and erratic for something as painstakingly precise as genjutsu. She appreciated the fact that with the training period Tsunade-sama assigned them, Asuma and Kakashi would consider her skills high enough that they'd choose a prospective student from their own teams, but in such a short time she could barely evaluate the two for later training, not actually give them much in the way of practical skills, the whole point of the time set aside.

Plus if she was honest with herself, these days most of the fabled shinobi tended to rely on ninjutsu and taijutsu, not genjutsu. It was hardly a new development, but certainly ages ago, there used to be a balance in numbers of ninja focusing on either of the disciplines, right up until the village system's establishment. Certainly within the Land of Fire the Uchiha grew to monopolize the market, their damned, ridiculously powerful eyes doing most of the work of illusions, easily beating most other genjutsu practitioners. So, with many prospective students getting the message and turning towards the other two, all that remained were the Uchiha and the very few, dedicated and frankly obsessive masters of genjutsu who rather enjoyed their newfound rarity and the mystery that came with it.  
Then the Uchiha passed away, but there were still very, very few people willingly choosing something subtle that works in the opponent's mind, as opposed to making big explosions that looked pretty. Taking on not just one, but two prospective students almost seemed like breaking with the tradition of letting the decline happen, shrugging all the way.

She could understand the Yamanaka. If one spends as much time in other people's brains as they tend to, it's best to know how to manipulate them. But she knew next to nothing about the other one besides what she saw of her during her preliminary match. Time would tell. Kakashi said she had excellent chakra control, which is not a bad start, and that she had the sort of mind he thought suited for it. She could certainly give a go to the both of them.

The pairs practiced away. Kurenai could spot a mistake here or there, but overall each genin was on a good level, especially for relatively recent graduates. Some needed to work on the strength behind their punches, others were too stiff, but Gai and her would make sure to address those problems, and even if they did not, sheer experience would.

A greater point of note was their attitude. It was appropriate for their age and experience, and looking at two of Gai's students it was another thing best tempered by time, but for now it was something she very much hoped Kakashi and Asuma would prepare the two new chuunin for, more than anything.

She watched as Hinata and Chouji fought. She knew one like the back of her hand, and the other from what Asuma complained about, and the two seemed to have similar root problems of insecurity and soft-heartedness at the wrong times. Both were at an age where they could grow out of it, but she was hoping for their sake they'd mature before someone could use their personalities against them. The ninja world needed people who were gentle at their core, but unfortunately crushed those who did not possess the strength to back it up.

Meanwhile Kiba and his sparring partner Ino seemed to have the exact opposite problem. Both of them were assertive and the respective voices of their teams, and as she thought, putting them up against each other brought that quality to the forefront. A simple start went slightly wrong, and from the look of things one of them must have said something that hit a nerve under their breath a touch too loudly.  
By now the duo was all but hissing at each other for mistaken hits, steps taken wrong or moves made incorrectly. A gloat this way and a catty remark in response, it was an adorable sight. The spectating Akamaru on the ground just cocked his head and watched them with an air of amusement as the two humans carried on with looks that could kill and a tension in the air he could practically use as a chew toy. Kurenai took a moment to happily think back of the time when she was that young.

Far more balanced were Shino, and strangely enough, Lee. She did not know much of Gai's prize student besides what she saw before, but she was very surprised about his behaviour. She'd expected his fired up attitude would get to Shino, bringing him out of his shell (well, exoskeleton anyway) a bit, but it seemed to her the two boys found a common language in polite and formal discourse, making constructive and calm, or enthusiastic but equally helpful comments about each other's styles.

The other two pairs she did not have first-hand knowledge of but since she wanted to pair people up who were not teammates, those too were decided by process of elimination. Tenten and the Uchiha seemed to get along just fine, which did not help Haruno concentrate on her attempts to hit Hinata's cousin much. For his part, Neji was appropriately awkward with the match. Gai was right, he changed his attitude since his match with Naruto; he was careful not to hurt his training partner nor did he talk down to her – it was with difficulty that Kurenai kept herself from developing a grudge against the boy and she'd keep in mind what he was like at his worst for a long time, but she was glad that he seemed to be making an effort at becoming a better person, not just a better ninja.

Caught up in her musing, Kurenai absent-mindedly blocked a stray shuriken. Tenten has evidently decided that weaponry fit into the classification of 'light combat'. The genin were familiar and skilled enough with kunai and such, but most preferred either simple taijutsu, specialised in unarmed combat in one way or another, or over-specialised in something else to such a degree that they were more comfortable going unarmed when it came to simple practice, but that did not, when it came down to it, exclude the common kunai from being admissible to use.

Kurenai smirked a little and nodded in approval as the seemingly endless stream of sharp metal of various classifications and design sliced their way towards a frantically dodging Uchiha. As the fights proceeded, she noticed a perceptible shift of focus and the positions of the fighters. The sparring genin did not stop per se, but there was a noticeable slow-down as everyone kept an eye out for Tenten and Sasuke, half for making sure they don't get an unwelcome slab of metal in some vital area, half for simple entertainment and maybe a few ideas at how to beat either.  
Kurenai knew she was not genjutsu user material, but she decided she liked the girl.

Compared to Lee's glorious show but tragic defeat or the stunning display of skill shown off by Neji, Tenten never really had the opportunity to impress their juniors because of her bad match-up with that wind-user from the Sand. Even in missions she often felt like she was playing a mid-range second fiddle to an otherwise heavily close combat focused team. She was not particularly upset at this nor did she plan to grab the limelight when the fight started but now that it was on her she did enjoy it. Her sparring partner was good, and started to return the favour with kunai of his own.  
Having practiced with Neji and his Byakugan, the Uchiha, now with his Sharingan active, was less of an immediate threat in ranged combat to Tenten than he would have been to most others. His field of vision was still human after all, although Tenten noticed he could dodge those projectiles that were aimed right at him much better than Neji ever did, deflecting less and avoiding more. On the other hand his face was easily readable for someone used to sparring with Neji, providing the odd clue every now and then. He was a good sport too; she's seen how he fought against Gaara and knew that she would not really stand a chance if he took it to melee range or used that lightning element technique, but for now he seemed content to duke it out with thrown weaponry. This was going to be fun.

Partaking in a spectacle is fundamental to human nature. From keeping an eye out for safety, to dividing one's attention, to a mutual slowing down to better watch the show, to all but stopping. The genin were young and not as jaded by the sights of warfare as the elder generations. The skilful interceptions of projectiles his sharingan allowed Sasuke to perform, the expert aiming, the clang of metal meeting metal ringing out time and time again, Tenten's swarms of shuriken she was now launching straight from her scrolls, the sights and sounds of it all were very much hypnotic to the inexperienced. As they started to turn their attention more and more towards the fight the genin were lost in the almost melodic ringing out of metal, the sparks kicked up and the sun reflecting on them. It was all too beautiful for them to take their eyes off of.

Kurenai's students were the first to catch onto what was going on. Hinata activated her Byakugan, Kiba quit his argument with Ino and tried to catch the irregularities in the smells of the illusory world to find the first thread to unravel, while Shino, one of the last people to still have an earnest fight with Lee, apologised and prepared his hive.  
"Release!" The trio chorused.

With the first three gone, the others quickly realised that they were under a collective illusion. Ino and Sakura released themselves right away, while Nej and Sasuke, now aware of the trickery, used their eyes to see the chakra behind the technique and shatter it from the inside.

"Well done, you two, you saved the group some time and effort to try and break out themselves. Sorry to break your match, Tenten, Sasuke, but I was done with my evaluation and I figured I might as well get right to the instructing." Red eyes squinted with her smile at the expressions of most of the genin. "First lesson: vigilance and spotting the signs of enemies making their move on you. Never, even in the most peaceful situation are you to presume that you are not five seconds from being subjected to something that could kill you. Some degree of relaxation is accepted in the village, but when it comes to training, the best attitude is to assume you are being judged for laxity. We have an unusual number of Dojutu users in the group who might have their own perspective on this, but for the rest of you, attempt to grow eyes on the back of your head. You will need them. Now, can anyone have a guess when and how the illusion started? Shino, Kiba, Hinata, not a peep from you."

Sakura raised a hand.  
"Was it when you assigned the groups? You talked to each of us, looked into our eyes I think, and gestured who should go where with whom. I think I read it somewhere that those are the main sources of illusions."

"Good try, but no. Remember, my intent from the start was simply to see how well you'd do, and for that I needed to observe you unaffected." She turned from just the girl to the whole group. "One of the most powerful things one can do to an enemy is read them. I announced I was about to gauge you, but you carried on even after giving away your moves to me. You did not grant just enough to have me think I had you figured out, you did not give me false info, you did not predict what I'd do. Understandable, from genin, but do try not to ever make the same mistake."

"Then you did it when you were correcting our mistakes!" Ino chimed in, stubbornly clinging to the topic, refusing to be distracted from figuring out what fooled her. That was better, Kurenai noted. "You already made your observations, and while showing us how to position ourselves or correct our stance you touched us and put us in an illusion that way."

"Again, not bad as ideas go, but you are on the wrong tracks entirely. Plus, consider that I did not correct everyone's form, just that of a few of you." Kurenai continued to observe the group, but more importantly her two hopefuls.  
Some more suggestions flew up from the group, but each was more and more unlikely and was inevitably shot down. After the last one Kurenai held up her hand.  
"Okay, I can see that you need a hint. What have you been doing before realising you were in the illusion?"

"Sparring?" Chouji volunteered, glad to offer up an answer. This was most definitely not the sort of training his father had been pestering him with.

"Not exactly. Think back what you were really doing." Kurenai commanded. "A good ninja must always be thoughtful of their actions."

Starting to sweat under pressure, Chouji started turning out ideas.  
"Uh, we watched Tenten and Sasuke trying to hit each other? Was the fight an illusion? No, wait, you said you wanted to assess us, so you would not have put that whole thing in, especially since Tenten and Sasuke really were there. Does that mean you put an illusion on the fight itself?"

Kurenai smiled a bit to herself. She heard from Asuma that Chouji and Shikamaru were very good friends, and it was nice to see that the tendency to think has rubbed off onto the Akimichi.  
"You're getting warmer, but are still not there. I was doing nothing to the fight itself, not right away. Eventually yes, the actual technique I used trapped you in the visage and sounds of the kunai and shuriken, sights shinobi pay close attention to by nature and training. But just by itself it would not have been enough to pierce your concentration and actually trap you. You see, what genjutsu needs to separate you from reality is a simple distraction before really starting to weave its actual jutsu into practice. A nice little backdoor to your mind. Like Sakura said earlier, often it is a stare into your eyes that does it – remember, those of us without kekkei genkai have been doing eye-based illusions for a long time – or a word you know the enemy will latch on to, sometimes a simple movement of a hand watched intently enough will do. Genjutsu is a rare but powerful skill, and you must remember to be on your guard at all times when someone who practices it is around, whatever the case. It also pays to know how to get out of most of them, besides the simple release method. Kiba, why don't you step up and help me demonstrate?"

With that, a more traditional instruction began. It wasn't much, and arguably a very situational skill to get out of illusions, but it was good enough to hold their attention while waiting for Gai and the actual planned session. Once she covered the basics of recognition and fighting illusions, she decided to just proceed from topic to topic, answering questions and directing the group to areas she felt would help them out most, all the while feeling like a schoolteacher.

The first hour passed. Then the second. Just as the third approached and Kurenai really started to believe she would have to keep hold of the kids all day and figure out some training on the fly, she started to sense Gai's chakra approaching at its usual speed. Finally! Later she'd have a talk with him about keeping to schedule, but for now she was just happy he'd take most of them off of her hands. She liked kids, and the genin of this age were still cute little scamps for the most part, but even attempting to meaningfully train or educate them in those numbers was seriously taxing.

To aid her soon-to-be-saviour, she gently tapped the conversation in the right direction, asked the right questions while guessing at how long it'd take Gai to get her, managed a nice setup, and…  
"So is it better to learn to use all sorts of weaponry or specialise in one? Tenten did a good show with a bunch of them, but I think my sister is still more frightening with her naginata." Kiba asked his question, nervously eyeing the group's weapon expert. "Hey, you've never seen the fragments that were left of my favourite training dummy back home after she was done with it. All I mean to ask is, how do you know what's the best weapon to use?"

There was a larger-than-necessary poof.  
Perched atop a large turtle and striking a pose that would have impressed even a certain Sannin, a man in a horribly tacky green jumpsuit proudly stood.  
"The answer is, my youthful friend, is the weapon that can never be taken away from you! Bows and arrows, polearms, swords or the humble kunai all break and bend, can be taken, can slip from your hand! But inseparable from you is your spirit, your mojo, the Flames of Youth!"

Kurenai shook her head in embarrassment. The man was amazingly powerful, and had some surprising depth to him when you got to know him, but the surface was what it was. At least he made good use of the entry and the pose was good – you could not become a mistress of illusions without an appreciation for theatrics.  
"Apologies for my lateness, Kurenai and my eager students! As penance I shall run five hundred laps around Konoha on a single hand!" The declaration too was familiar, as was the spirited reception it got from exactly one genin in the audience.

"Isn't that more like hopping?" Ino asked, a bit stunned by the entry, leering at the turtle. "Besides that's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible for one who is fuelled by the flames of youth! With my hand I may be hopping along, but in my mind I shall run, no, fly to break down the limits of my body! Each day and each minute, one ought to strive to be better, soar in mind and body, aim to leap across mountains and challenge the sun to a staring contest! The you of today is a brand new creature that must surpass the past and pave the way to the future!"

Kurenai took her opportunity of an awkward silence to cut in.  
"Which is precisely the aim of the sessions we will be having, what each of you in your own way will need to do. I have arranged for Gai to instruct you as a group while I work with on specific skills or areas to improve on with one, maybe two of you at a time. The goal of this training is not so much to gain new techniques or improve drastically, but for you to know where you are and what you need to do on your own to improve. Is that understood?"

A chorus of "Yes Ma'am" rang out.

"Very good. I will be starting with Yamanaka and Haruno, while the rest of you will get their first taste of the training regimen Gai prepared for you all."

She did not need to add 'you poor, poor bastards'. Some things are just understood.  
After a quick discussion and a handover of notes between the jounin, the group of genin followed two green figures beaming with youthful energy with considerably less enthusiasm, leaving Kurenai and the two that remained with her.

One the clearing was empty again, she turned to the girls in front of her.  
"Before you start breathing easy, let me just tell you that in a very short time, you might be wishing to trade places. That lot will simply be doing some very, well, knowing Gai, extremely heavy workouts. That is the sort of thing that you have done a million times by now, only harder, more extensive and more ridiculous. What I am about to do with you two is going to be something outside of the scope of your experiences so far."

The girls looked at each other and Kurenai, confused. At least the enmity from the beginning of the session seems to have been put to the side.  
"Both of your Jounin sensei feel that you would find it in yourself to excel in the area I specialise in." Kurenai explained. "We are going to carry out some tests to determine whether you are truly suitable. This training will not see you pick up techniques to dazzle your peers with, it will simply help you strengthen your mental focus in the short term, and we shall see where that takes you. Are you okay with that?"

The two girls both remained silent, thinking it over. So far so good. She's had over the years the odd hopeful try to ask her to teach genjutsu, or direct her to someone who could. Invariably she asked them a simple question like that. Invariably, eager to show off their determination they said yes immediately. Invariably she told them to bugger off.  
Genjutsu needed chakra control, imagination, self-discipline, creativity and cleverness with a little bit of an inner core of a capacity for cruelty and nastiness. For the good reasons, of course. But above all these, you needed the natural inclination to being careful, alert and suspicious. You did _not_ want to go too far with the wrong technique.

The pink and blonde were both considering, clearly turning it over in their heads. Kurenai could practically see the pros and cons fire off in their heads. From what she saw so far, both seemed to have a temper, but now they seemed to be more on the serious side. Good. Having the flare-prone attitudes they showed was not a problem by itself, but it was always better to demonstrate an ability to contain it. And yes, they looked up, then at each other, flashed a small grin, and…  
"Yes Ma'am!" They announced at the smiling Kurenai.

The next thing they knew was that their reality melted.  
Impossible and grotesque sights surrounded them, the only thing remotely human was the jounin's voice carried by the wind.  
"Good. We shall begin with some simple tests. You've done well so far, so I have decided to go easy on you. Some few examples tied to kekkei genkai aside, the most potent of genjutsu is the sort that seems the most natural, the most unassuming and most sensible. This, by contrast is more of a horror show, one you will escape from. All you need to do is find the best little thread to pull on and begin unravelling the illusory world. You have five minutes, and if you succeed we will move on to the more fun stuff."

Back in an intact world, Kurenai watched with some amusement the two girls, frozen stiff, trying to get out of the technique, recalling her own training in the arts. It wasn't kind by any means, and it had no place for that sentiment. All ninja disciplines needed you to harden yourself, even if you did it just occasionally, but for the practitioner of illusions, you needed to know how to get downright nasty.  
Well, manipulation of your enemy's senses, quick analytical capabilities to sketch up an idea how they would think, extremely fine chakra control and knowledge of the esoteric if you wanted to be flexible in your methods came in as very important as well. But the ability to be mean was the base of it all, and by the looks of it, the girls were getting a taste of that.

For now she was just hoping they were enjoying the ride. The technique is frightening and weird by design, but for anyone with a future in genjutsu it would quickly become an acquired taste.  
In her humble opinion some of the stuff that came later, like basic neurology and psychology was the haunting part.  
The lesson crawled on.


	6. Raised Spirits

**Chapter 5 - Raised Spirits**

Maito Gai loved his job.

It was hard as hell, often bloody and violent, risky and even with people who were his best friends, there was fierce competition day by day, where you had natural genius breeze past obstacles that made him grit his teeth to overcome, where he had to try thrice as hard as those with 'special' written all over them just to have a chance at being at an even footing. Every single waking moment of his life he had to give his all, or risk it being lost. He especially enjoyed that part.

He has long realised that he was not born for greatness the same way others seemed to. He has seen some of his colleagues undergo a few weeks of training and increase their potential immensely. Hell, Kakashi was talking about increasing his own training, projecting he could up his chakra reserves a few times if he tried hard enough, enabling him to rely on his Sharingan more and get more uses out of his Raikiri. The two excellent new chuunin were now getting some training themselves, one a likely future clan head and the other a scion with a greater legacy than he probably knew, and Gai had a feeling they too would come out of that better than ever before.

He himself has never known growth like that. His was the result of getting up at four in the morning every day, sweating for every step ahead, and learning to love the trials, because life consisted of them. He knew that those with talent were not lazy either, and that becoming bitter or jealous of them would achieve little. He embraced the gift of having to work harder than most others, because through that he felt he gained an ownership and fulfilment from success that made it all worthwhile, that made his blood boil with joy, that made him feel truly and unceasingly young.

To earn the privilege of passing that on to a genin team of his own was one of his proudest moments. Nothing was perfect, and it took a lot of work, but he has managed to help each in the best way he could. Lee followed his footsteps the most closely of course, and he was the one whom he could help the most directly. Tenten's will to practice that which she loved so tenaciously and turn an oft-sneered-at, minor path of the ninja arts into a formidable skill made him weep with joy, and he made his utmost efforts to help her take that to the next level. Neji's determination, despite his troubles, was also something he took great pride in, as was every rare moment when he lightened up, thankfully growing more frequent these days. The four of them went on missions that reminded Gai of his own days as a genin, the excitement of his first real assignments, and he was the happiest he's ever been since beginning to teach and command them.

So right now he was ecstatic, having been asked to briefly instruct and measure up the capacities of a whole generation of genin. He knew well that going on blissful missions with his team would become rarer from now on, but he treasured the opportunities and challenges for them ahead, and the chance to spark the love for hard work in a new group was itself marvellous. He has seen most of them in their preliminaries, and they were all excellent and beaming with youth, each in their own way, if some needed a little bit of encouragement to let them truly unleash it.  
Cold measurements were not exactly his thing, but it was a requirement, so he hopped to it. Well, it was more accurate to say that he had them hop to it, while he recorded, estimated, spotted vital details.

It started simply enough, with a few laps around the village. Well, that and the occasional stop for a spur of the moment task, be it push-ups, squats or whatever he came up with, like digging holes and filling them in again (where his heart soared with pride, seeing Tenten's team spirit as she handed out summoned shovels, even if it made the job at hand a bit too easy), moving large erratic rocks or climbing a small nearby cliff did the job of pushing all of them hard, hard enough where he could spot how well each did to deal with the physical hardships.

His own team of course got better than their last run of similar exercises; each embracing their flames of youth and inspiring the team to work harder, but the rest did well too. He was positively surprised at the young Chouji. True, he was the first to begin to lag behind in running and he needed a lot of training to increase his stamina. But he has also taken well to being cheered on, he applied himself to the task, and he did very well on those needing strength. The other somewhat notable concern was the spectacled, cool natured Shino. He did not seem to react to cheering, and his, well, unique physiology did have a drawback when it came to more physically involved tasks, but the way the young man handled himself and kept up his efforts were an inspiring sight indeed. Then there were the other happy discoveries that made his day, like Neji's cousin, Hinata seeming more eager and happy to do the tasks assigned than he'd have expected, or Kakashi's Uchiha prize pupil seemingly perfect recovery from his encounter with Itachi. Perhaps Gai's best discovery of the day was the duo of Kiba and Akamaru, whose enthusiasm got him so fired up that he even considered offering them one of his jump suits.

He would have done so, if not for the foresight of Kurenai and her threats of heavy mental violence and a future spent screaming at things that existed only in his head in a padded room somewhere if he made such offers to the genin entrusted to his temporary care. That, Gai had to admit, was rather un-youthful of her, and made her a bit of a spoil-sport. With a heavy heart he made that compromise, but other than that, he was very satisfied with the group.

"AHA! Thank you, my eager, young pupils! Your determination to push through was just what was called for!" He roared joyously at the end of their last lap. "Remember the thrill of adrenaline, the fellowship of the struggle! The tension in muscle as you push it to the limit and past the point of what was possible yesterday! These, my saplings still waiting to burst, these are the Flames of your Youth that will fuel your every step once you've had a taste of them!"

Whatever fuelled their steps, by the end it was clearly running out. Most of Konoha's hopeful generation was too busy to listen to the jounin's words of encouragement, what with having to focus on not spitting out their lungs. Those who still had the breath to spare may have thought for a moment about what, given the shady clearing they finally collapsed in, and the position of the sun, exactly produced the glint off his smile, but there it was. Some things just can't not happen, much as you might wish otherwise. And it would, as always, get worse.

"Work through the fatigue and pain, my students, work through it all!" He gently bent down to check Shino still had a pulse, then satisfied, he turned to the rest of the group with a coy expression. " And I know just the thing to entice you further! A reward for your hard work!"

"Please tell me it's soldier pills." Chouji managed to turn on his back and wheeze wistfully. "Or some water. And wonderful, lightly salted crisp potato chips with..."

"Even better!" While none of the others matched Lee's enthusiasm at Gai's announcement, still preoccupied with catching their breath or getting back on their feet, he knew they were every bit as elated deep down. "For the rest of the day I will be instructing you in taijutsu forms!"

A collective groan came from all but Lee, and Kiba who voiced his confusion.  
"But you were to train us anywa-"

"You see, my hopeful students, taijutsu truly is at the heart of shinobi." The jounin struck into his instruction with gusto. "Some sneer at it as basic brawling, but I have dedicated my life to it and have come to be on even ground with Kakashi himself! Moreso, I am proud of my students each specialising in some form of combat thought to be mundane, and each having attained such heights of skill! You three, let's show the young ones our excellent team spirit!"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee all but exploded at the chance, dropping his usual note-taking pen and notebook in his haste to get to his master.

"Lee!" Gai held out his hand low, with Lee placing his there as well. He surveyed on the other genin slowly getting on their feet, and focused on two among them.

"…" There were two genin, watched in quiet horror by the others, really wishing they were anywhere but here at the moment, and doing their sterling best impression of not actually being present.

"Tenten." Gai fixed a suddenly predatorial-looking pair of eyes on the poor kunoichi.

"…Gai-sensei?"

"Tenten!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei."  
A resignation and a joining of her hands saw the respect and fear for her skills she accumulated with the genin this morning evaporate, replaced by pity.  
More importantly, the tension in the air skyrocketed. The hair rose in the back of the audience's necks. A pair of incredible eyebrows lowered themselves further, moving the mode of the eyes from predatory confidence to an expression suited to a battle of wills. His opponent, who could not boast much in the way of eyebrows still drew them together and down, pearly and pupil-less eyes suddenly hardening, just stopping short of activating their kekkei genkai reflexively.

Wordlessly the argument roared; of duty, of dignity, of sacrifice, of come-on-do-I-really-have-to-do-this, of team spirit, of what-have-I-even-done-to-deserve-this, of penance, of okay-there-was- _that_ , and wilful as the Hyuuga genius could be, it was clear to all that his resolve would break before the minute was done.

"Neji!" Gai finally bellowed.

"Right, right." Neji, re-examining his life philosophy or no, realised that this particular part of his destiny he was utterly incapable of changing. He'd have wished Naruto was there for a later told-you-so, but then that would have been just one more spectator.

"Ready?" Gai pushed down his genins' joined hands

"WHOOOOO! TEAM GAI!" Gai and Lee chorused practically soaring with youth, with a less spirited Neji and Tenten just a breath behind them.

The rookie genin bearing witness shared glares. This, they realised, could never be spoken of. The wrath that would follow from two of the less insane members of Team Gai was simply not worth the risk.

* * *

Following this raising of spirits, a relative normalcy seemed to resume.  
Gai sensei was satisfied with the genin's basic physical prowess but unsurprisingly was going to push them as far as he could get away with. To his credit, beyond the crude workouts he has proven himself to be skilled in the finer details of ninja skills.

For all his eccentricities he was a treasure trove of martial arts know-how, lore and even the physiological and physical reasons of what worked and why. He gave Hinata a lengthy run-down of how best to improve on the breathing techniques of the traditional Hyuuga stance, with Neji reluctantly admitting to having adapted his methods himself. He spent a good deal of time with Chouji and Kiba on explaining how they could improve the simpler parts of their moves, how best to preserve striking power but not being too predictable, while Shino he started instructing on a series of modifications of basic kata better suited for someone with less natural stamina that lets the enemies do most of the work, and gave him a list of recommended material to follow up on once he was on his own.  
It was not clear whether Kakashi seemingly effortlessly getting Sasuke up to a level in a month where he took Lee in a year by spilling a lake's worth of sweat and tears got to his ego, but even if it did, he did not let that become a sentiment against the Uchiha himself. He addressed some of the drawbacks of the relative jump in speed and strength that caused Lee problems and which he could see Sasuke has not yet gotten used to, the green-clad duo happily demonstrating the proper form.

The rookie genin may have been used to sorter, more laissez faire approaches from their respective instructors, and the shift in their daily life that training under Gai for the next few weeks would be difficult, but the man did have a habit of getting to people. Already he was instilling a healthy dose of determination and work ethic well beyond what would be expected of them by someone actually conventionally sane. Alongside with Kurenai's more personalised instructions on what each of them lacked when she was not focused on the preparation of her two hopeful genjutsu pupils, the most promising group of Konoha genin in a generation began to make strides.

The future was in motion, plans were being drafted and redrafted, and how they would play out would rely not just on the tacticians and figureheads, but also on their followers and friends. As they embarked on journeys of gradual growth, one could all but see the mantle of the village's future being placed on their shoulders.

* * *

Hinata was blissfully unaware of all the plans in store for her cohort and her as she walked off from the training ground. The prospect of more important missions becoming the standard alone was a source of excitement and a boundless, cold fear in the pit of her stomach, thank you very much, and they managed to occupy a fair bit of her concerns for the future. She's grown to rely on Sensei a lot, for reassurance lest she crumble, for insight and even for the occasional disciplinary harshness with clearer overtones of care than what she was used to from her father.

Going on missions without that would be just one more difficult thing to will herself through, but something that she would make herself do nonetheless. She might not have the support of Sensei for a bit while on missions, yes, but she was not losing her and when both of them were in the village she could turn to her for advice just like before. Sensei may have been the closest she's had to a mother since the day her world shook from its very foundations, and she would be around less, but she was not losing that bond in the same way, she reminded herself.

The new missions would bring danger, but also chances to learn and prove herself. Maybe for once she could be helpful to someone else, rather than the one being helped out? For a moment, she indulged herself and imagined going on a wild, dangerous, even a bit romantic mission side by side with Naruto-kun, just the two of them walking through the fires of Hell together, hand in hand … but then she quickly realised that she was walking down the street with her head in the clouds, all but lost in the idea. She took a deep breath, embarrassed for her wistful thinking. It's one thing to imagine those things happening, in a world where she could always find the right words and step up at just the right moments, but could she really, actually do anything like that the way she was right now?

Much as she liked the fantasy and would have done anything to live it, right now she was a scout, not a combatant. She practiced the Gentle Fist but could still not see chakra openings and she didn't agree with the Kaiten, one of the biggest cornerstones of the Main Branch Hyuuga fighting style.  
Logically any role she would play in whatever team would focus on using her eyes and maybe speed, not combat ability. Her resolve to become more assertive would go well with focusing more on direct martial arts, but she wasn't sure how she'd actually do that. The Gentle Fist by nature aimed to disable and disrupt, not destroy, straying too far from clan techniques was frowned upon and if she was honest with herself she would be much more comfortable knocking people out than actually hurting them.

So, to put it simply Hinata was very much preoccupied and contemplating what she should do to make herself better, how that could be done, and more immediately in nature, what she should do with the rest of her afternoon. The strangest thing about her cousin's sensei's methods, despite the aching limbs, she felt oddly energised at the end of it all, as did some of the others. When Gai-sensei left them surprisingly soon, urging them to do as much as they could for their development, many actually stayed on to train more, and even those leaving like Hinata did so just to continue training on their own. After but one session with the man, it was hard not feeling like whatever one was doing was not yet enough.

She wondered how much the training aimed at that. Hinata was still sore from the day's trials, just enough to make the idea of more immediate physical workout unappealing, but if she was honest with herself, not enough that she had little choice but return home and rest. For now she found herself wandering the streets, her mind barely following along as her feet piloted her along one familiar path to another.

She found herself at the Academy, by the swing now empty of the lonely occupant she tried so many times to gather up the courage to talk to. She could see Iruka-sensei with a new class already, struggling to contain the whims of a boy with a blue scarf much the same way he used to do with Naruto. It really was strange, it occurred to Hinata, how much has happened in how little a time since they've become genin. Going on missions where anything could happen, going through the exams and finding a strength in herself and now even looking forward to the responsibilities that would come. It all seemed absurd that a few months ago they were still just students.

Not wanting to intrude, she wandered on, not going anywhere specific as she did not really have a regular place within the village itself. As (now probably former) heir of the Hyuuga clan she did not get out of the complex that much to begin with, and to add to matters Konoha's people were a largely outdoors population who made the village's street life festive, active and beautiful, but if you preferred the quiet, there were few places to go to.  
After a few minutes of ambling about, she broke her habit and looked up for a bit, only to realise her legs have taken her towards the Hokage monument as one of the biggest fixtures in the landscape. She rarely spent her time here, but for once she felt like getting up on the stone heads and having a nice look at her home from above. A few chakra-enhanced jumps took her up to the Fourth's head and…

"Oh! Hey, Hinata, I was just looking for you." Just as she'd have landed on the stone head it turned out to have an occupant perching atop of it already whom she did not see coming up. A certain blond young man at that, cheerful as ever, with a smile that changed her world.

Right now the effect on her was dangerous - if not for the chakra in her feet already, pinning her in place the surprise might have ended in a fifty meter plummet to the ground. At her age, her affection for him was much more of an admiration of his strength of character, emotional without the physical side of things interfering too much yet – that is, until relatively recently which is when things started getting a whole lot more complicated, much more embarrassing as well as distracting. So, while it has to be mentioned as credit to her that complicated or not, she was never shallow enough to let looks be the big determining factor for her feelings, now having had her first look at the village's newest chuunin in his uniform was certainly a bit of a distraction of its own on top of her usual shyness around him.  
She took a moment to right herself and get onto a more stable surface. Physically as well as otherwise. It didn't help much, it almost never did, but always it was worth the try.

She wanted to respond, her mind suddenly abuzz with things to say and to avoid saying, but was overcome and unprepared to talk for a moment. He was looking for her? Specifically? They haven't spoken since before the finals in the exams! The conversation from that morning came up in her mind – what if he wanted to ask what she thought of the match? Could she really just admit to the fact that despite what he did apparently in her name, in some way, and the whole talk about her clan, she just up and collapsed? Or was it about a mission, this early? Maybe something happened! He was one of the two superior officers in their group now, after all, she could be just blowing his wanting to talk to her way out of proportion and it could all just be an emergency. There was the dreaded feeling of her cheeks reddening, doubtless something he'd consider strange. She could feel the haze of _oh-just-what-do-I-say-now_ envelop her, like it has too many times.  
She tried and summoned up all her self-control to sound confident and to keep herself from fidgeting with her fingers.  
She failed.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Small mercies, at least there were no real obstacles for her to suddenly get behind out of habit. "Um, did you want something with me? Is there something wrong?"

"Nah, nothing's wrong, I was just looking for you." Evidently unaware of the response this got from her, Naruto carried on enthusiastically. "You see me and Shikamaru are getting some really cool training from Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei, and they mentioned that the rest of everyone is getting some training too. Is that right?"

"Yes, with Kurenai-sensei and Gai-sensei." She nodded.

"And they too left early for some village thing?" Naruto cheerfully continued.

"Yes. We were told to make use of the afternoons ourselves." She nodded again, reflexively.

"Wanna come train with me?"

"Yes- huh?"

"Aha! Gotcha!" Hinata blinked in surprise, but did not react for the moment. Naruto stopped pointing victoriously at her; a bratty grin gave way for a more neutral expression as he slowly registered the awkwardness of the situation, starting to scratch his cheek nervously. "Sorry. I kinda expected you to hit me or run off or something. Bad habit. Um, seriously, though, I'm looking for a training partner and I was thinking and…"

"Yes." Once more Hinata found herself answering automatically, quicker than her embarrassment had a chance of screwing it up for her for once.

"…and well, it would be bad if it was just my team, Shikamaru is probably training with Chouji or something, I ran into Neji and Tenten at the fields and they were training too…" Naruto listed his encounters as if to justify his request, too caught up to actually notice answers.

"Yes!" Her second reply was more desperate.

"…and I was thinking that you were really trustworthy and really amazing in your match, so I thought I'd really like to train with you. If it's okay. I mean I, um, kinda need some help with chakra control, and I thought you could help me out with that and in return I'm sure I could find something to help you out with too…" Naruto was babbling along, talking increasingly more to himself. Hinata realised he probably was not used to asking people for things – he'd either be invited by the few who cared for him and could get themselves to arrive at the point like Iruka or the Third, or it would be obvious his request would fall on deaf ears.

"Naruto-kun!" It was do or die, and Hinata steeled herself, desperate to break through his monologue.

"Yes?"

"I already said yes. I'd love to spend the afternoon with you. Training I mean." That was close, but she finally managed to strike a somewhat calm tone, ignoring her heart racing along at the mere idea that he'd consider her someone good enough to train with, never mind the part about being trustworthy. It took some effort to make herself not to jump for joy, that would probably have not played out very well.

She took a moment to think, while Naruto had his own turn at blinking in surprise, clearly unused to the idea of people just going along with things he'd asked of them. So often did she want to approach him and offer a helping hand, yet found her will wanting. To be asked now was the best thing she could ever imagine, but also the most nerve-wrecking possibility, without granting her time to prepare herself. However long that would take.  
She couldn't refuse him, but she needed some time at least to gather up the wits to just talk to him and be comfortable enough near him to train together without messing up or embarrassing herself. She needed something helpful to fall back onto, something she knew like the back of her hand. And thanks to Naruto's mention of it, she had just the thing.

"Naruto-kun, you said you have a problem with chakra control?" She managed to say, keeping a fragile hold on her voice. His face brightening up as he realised she said yes to what he asked was quite a distraction.

"Yeah. I'm doing elemental training with Asuma sensei, you know, and he says my control is too shoddy." He explained with an apologetic expression. "Maybe you could use your Byaku-"

"Oh, um, I have a better idea, Naruto-kun." Hinata cut in, forgetting for a minute etiquette drilled into her at the youngest age. There were rumours enough at the Academy about Byakugan users already, and she was not going anywhere near that for a while. A good, long while. "I know a training method for basic chakra control that's not part of the Academy curriculum, so you may not have tried it. It's a Hyuuga clan method, to let us get used to our, um, Byakugans. Are you interested?"

"That sounds fun! What do I do?" Hinata always had her own perspective on Naruto and was not unaware of his flaws, but this was probably the first time she was genuinely thankful for his tendency to easily go from one idea to the next, provided he hasn't started really digging into it.

She sat down at the stone head, and patted the ground next to her in silent invitation. Gathered courage or no, she wasn't quite at the point where she could actually ask him to sit next to her. As he settled, she recounted the lesson nervously.

"L- like I said it is relatively simple, just to let you get used to sensory jutsu. I'm not sure how the final part would work for someone without the Byakugan, but the parts leading up to it are a good way of practicing fine control of your chakra. Close your eyes and just focus on the natural movement of chakra in your system." She looked on as he took a moment to focus, then nodded once he had it.

"Hey, this is kinda like that training with Asuma-sensei!" He mentioned happily, trying to get hold of the same meditation as before. "He never said you could control chakra inside you."

"It's, um, not done often. But it helped me out a lot to do fine chakra control. And actually it's really fun, I promise you." The idea of teaching it to him occurred to her so naturally, she never even considered that a clan tradition like that should not be taught to outsiders. But, she decided, he was hardly an outsider, was he? Beyond her own joy over helping him, something like this that could help him learn to control his chakra would be the least he was due for his help to the clan.  
Naruto was silent as he focused on the flow of his chakra. Hinata was still nervous, but explaining a simple practice she's done countless times helped her out. There was no room for her to embarrass herself or get into a conversational pitfall. Like whether she had the right to teach him clan exercises.

"Okay, are you feeling the chakra going around in your body naturally? Try to guide it to your legs, like you are trying to go faster. Can you feel it? Now to your arms, major muscles… simple, right?"  
Naruto nodded. He's never thought too much of it before, but using chakra, his own or that special one to strengthen his muscles was something he was very much used to.

"Now take a little bit of it, and guide it to your fingertip." Hinata continued with instructions. This was surprisingly easier than she thought. Her heart rate was settling, face felt like it regained her colour. See, it was just training, and she could have approached him a million times before. It meant a difference to her, but just because it was Naruto the training itself wouldn't be extraordinary - and she liked the idea of spending some simple, undisrupted time with him.  
Then Naruto concentrated, and his finger was coated in orange chakra, radiating with energy.

"Naruto-kun wait, wait that's too much! Try to take less, okay? It's not for a jutsu." Hinata frantically tried to instruct him on how to do it, but found herself amazed that he could pull such an amount of chakra in that density into his finger at a blink. Whatever that jutsu he learned was, even from a questionable master, it must have needed him to handle a lot of concentrated chakra very quickly – she only wished her own training went as well.

Naruto meanwhile struggled to tone down the amount of chakra controlled. He reduced it by a whole magnitude. Then again, after Hinata asked him to. Twice. By now it was an amount he could barely perceive, as if trying to focus on the smallest of sand grains in a vast beach, but Hinata said it was still a very large amount. Of course he knew he had unnatural reserves thanks to his prisoner, but to directly compare it to someone else's and what counts for them as a significant amount of the stuff was an eye-opener.  
He was not sure how best to make use of knowing about the difference, but finally he had a sense of it, rather than just believing Kakashi-sensei that he's got an absurd amount. Maybe this was what Kakashi-sensei talked about when he said he needed someone to compare himself to?

Finally he cut it down to an appropriate amount of chakra, just on the edge on his ability to feel or control. The lessons from earlier helped him recognise what he previously thought was a jumble of flows in chakra to be an actual system like veins, and if he concentrated hard enough, he could even feel it a little. The general movement he'd described to Asuma now broke down, no longer a huge torrent but a series of rivers as she guided him, voice quivering slightly for whatever reason. And he's succeeded at controlling not only just a river, but rather a tiny stream of the whole mess, channelled it into a small loop at his fingertip, then slowly made it rest where he wanted it to be. The voice of his training partner was more relaxed too, definitely a good sign.

"I think that's about enough, Naruto-kun. The next step is keeping control of that little chakra, away from the coils where it naturally is, and guiding it towards the skin and nerves. Like how you would put it into your leg muscles to make them stronger, but put it directly onto your fingertip." Naruto wasn't sure why she said that last bit that way, but the idea of the exercise was probably more interesting.

"Hold on…" Naruto struggled not to let too much escape, trying to make the new concept work in his finger. It wasn't difficult as such, he just needed to be very, very precise. If he was thinking with rivers and streams before, now he needed to be accurate on the level of tiny drips. But as he got used to the idea of the new scales, his thinking shifted, held back the mass of chakra and slowly, carefully he just about managed to get the right amount, spread out evenly in his fingertip. " …Yeah, I think I got it. So what do I do with it?"

She knew this was going to be the hard part for her. She had to be directed at the first practice like all the other children, and now she had to do it. For him, still concentrating on keeping a steady hold of his chakra. She'd imagined situations like this before, and took power from her previous track of thoughts – nothing was about to happen just by itself, she had to make a move, not even just to live out a silly fantasy, but to genuinely help.

Hinata gathered all her determination and took his hand, something she'd never have dared do while in the Academy, and ran his fingers along the stone surface of the Hokage monument under them.  
There was a small silence for a moment. Then the expression of amazement on his face and remembering the first time she experienced the enhanced sense herself finally got to Hinata, and she burst out with a small giggle, which in turn made Naruto laugh. For a few, precious seconds that Hinata tried to burn into her memory, they just sat, her hand on his, laughing at a small wonder of chakra used for no murderous or underhanded intent, just to help them feel the world around them a little bit better. Of course, it ended as quickly as it came, but she knew she would treasure the fact that it happened. Despite that whatever strides she'd made, the sheer embarrassment of the position finally got to her and she quickly let go of his hand.

They both quietened down. Hinata felt content to sit in silence and watch Naruto, still stunned, stare at his hand. Finally he looked up, into her eyes, grinned and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Thanks, Hinata, that was really amazing! And I'm kinda starting to get how this chakra control thing is supposed to work!" He added happily, and somewhere out there in the village Iruka felt like a burden he's lived with for years eased a little.

"Well, the exercise isn't really about control, but it does need you to use a very small amount precisely." She replied from memory, surprised how readily these early lessons came back. She may not have lived up to the clan's expectations, but the Hyuuga had a hell of a way of teaching you the basics. "If you use too much or too little, it won't work. And once you can do that with small amounts, you can measure up better how much to use and how to control larger amounts for a jutsu. I, um, I was having trouble with learning a basic step of the Gentle Fist a few years ago, and eventually decided to work out precisely how much I actually had to use to get it right, by returning to this exercise as a basis, since it was the smallest amount I ever had to control." She added quietly: "Father was actually happy when I showed him how I worked it out, I think." Realising what she just said, she decided to help the conversation away from awkward matters. "A-anyway, I thought if you can try to work out the smallest possible amount of chakra you can hold, enough to control it finely enough to boost your senses, it would help when you are trying to do another jutsu."

Naruto made a wondering face at that, thoughts caught up somewhere.

"If you are okay with it, I think we can work on this together. I mean trying to use as little chakra as possible, and raising it to just the level that the jutsu needs. If you want to. There's more steps to the exercise, and I do want to show them to you." Hopefully, she risked pushing on.

"There's more? What do I do?" To her joy Naruto seemed eager to continue.

"Well, it is the same principle as before, but what you do is you try to control it more precisely, pouring the chakra into your ears. It needs to be very even, but it increases your hearing, and it's the only part of the routine that I've heard people actually use as a tool for real espionage. But you have to be really careful with how much you use. If you can, it should be even less than with your finger. Follow it as it travels through your coils, feel the small pocket under your direct control. When it gets near, move it out of your direct chakra system, and use it on your eardrum."

Once more with closed eyes, he focused and did as he was directed. A bit more sure-footed about handling so minuscule an amount, he kept a steady control, and concentrating, he could apply it without prompting. Using the chakra, he could actually feel his eardrum and the connected nerves which was a strange sensation, but the enhanced hearing too began to make itself felt.

They were both ready for his reaction this time around. She whispered a few more instructions just under her breath, clear and loud to his ears, and enhanced her own hearing as well.  
They sat in silence for a few minutes, just soaking in the rising sounds from the town centre under them, the constant hubbub of thousands of productive activities. Smithies busy with forging batches upon batches of kunai and shuriken, some specialists hammering out more intricate weapons, salesmen haggling over prices, hopefuls asking where they could submit missions – an innumerable cavalcade of voices. Once more the sheer weight of the experience took over for a while, both the sensation itself, and really sharing it with someone. There was something fundamentally right about using chakra this way, that made the idea of using it to hurt other people seem distasteful.

Hinata was far more used to the exercise, but this was very different from what she would normally hear while doing it. On her own she'd seek out someplace remote where she would not be a bother to anyone. Alone she'd never have dared to just sit right atop the Hokage monument (was that even allowed?), but with Naruto at her side, the worries never even crossed her mind as they listened to all those noises merge together. The two of them sitting together, it all was so much like a dream that she dared not risk pinching herself lest it would end. He made a wide grin that could have blinded the sun itself.

Naruto wondered if these sensations were what the adults drinking all those strange things were trying to get to. Directing chakra to his skin, he felt the stone beneath him, a simple act that was too much fun to be legal. His ears kept up picking up the distant noises, leaving him wondering what was so horrible a child in the market street was crying about. And when he stopped listening and just let the sounds come to him, they arranged themselves into a melody of sorts. He has always been an outsider, a sneered at and shooed away brat to most of the villagers, but listening to the mixture of laughter, cries, a mother singing to her baby, a smith happily explaining the basics of the craft to someone, there was a beauty to the whole that he had missed before. Despite how they treated him, he always held a loyalty to his village, but only now could he experience the real warmth to the place. It was not for him, but it was warmth nonetheless. He'd just have to appreciate those individual voices that were, especially the one that has allowed him to experience this in the first place.

She didn't have to prompt him to try for the next step. Still enjoying the echoes of the village around him, he took another almost incomprehensibly small pocket of chakra and began guiding it. He was getting the hang of it, he just had to redefine his scales. Odd how he never really took notice of all the chakra sloshing around in his system, never thinking it was significant at all.

Pouring chakra in his nose and down his lungs, the sounds of the village suddenly came alive with a myriad smells as well. He could smell the nearby hospital, standing out from the more natural background of the village like a sore thumb, he smelled and let go of the burnt, strange smell carried by the wind that must have been someone's experiment with explosives misfiring, and focused on the far more pleasant sensations of the dozen bakeries and food stalls (hey Ichiraku was making a new batch of his favourite ramen!).  
The humans went from individual sources of noise to moving streams and trails criss-crossing each other. He could all but see the trails of the various ninja nonchalant about stealth in the village proper, still hopping along rooftops and walls. Following the trails, the Hokage's mansion was truly revealed as a centre piece of the day's activities, the Hokage Monuments clearly were marked as a lot of people's favourite hangout almost as clearly as various roofs under them. Quiet as she was, he could hear Hinata beside him as well as smell a distinct aroma of cinnamon and something he could not place but made him think of purple. On himself he could feel ramen of course, a small hint of the explosive tags he lobbed around yesterday, and the scents of the seemingly endless numbers of leaves he assaulted earlier.

The sensation got him thinking. With Asuma's help with visualisation, detailed description of wind chakra and the odd actual tip on what he should be doing, he started to get a good feel of the element. He'd have a difficult time putting it to words, but he has felt it in his hands enough to get the knack for creating it, if still imperfectly. His most immediate problem was keeping control of it.

He'd begin cutting into a leaf, make some headway, and Asuma would shake his head. The cut, as opposed to Asuma's clean and straight demonstration, was revealed as jaggy, with the chakra spiralling off to the sides in various patterns. It was, the jounin told him with a smoky sigh, as if he was just creating the wind element in droves, but barely balanced or contained it, just let if burst out. Was he doing the same thing as before, overloading the technique with chakra until it either happened or collapsed?

The way both Kakashi-sensei and now Hinata mentioned the use of techniques, it was always about kneading up the chakra from zero. They did not have to direct a flood, merely pour a glass of water. He almost envied them for that, but there was no point in getting hung up – this was just another difficulty to work through. This sensory training was pretty fun, but Hinata was right, it was also good fine control training. Taking control of the tiniest measure of his chakra, trying to make a technique work with that, well, it was difficult, but like using fewer clones he could see how he could be more precise with getting what he wanted done in the technique. Was this what that Ebisu pervert tried to explain to him, before he started training with Ero-sennin? All there was to do now was to practice, see what he could work out with it. He even came up with a way to test it, while at the same time having an idea how he could pay Hinata back for helping him.

"Hey, Hinata, do you think we could go to someplace else? There's something I want to try out!"

That was what he wanted to ask of her.  
That is what he attempted to ask of her.  
What he forgot about in the midst of enjoying the moment and figuring out how to solve his problem, is that they both maintained their enhanced senses, neither of them willing to just up and break the magic of the moment.  
As his voice, naturally on the loud side and in that awkward near-puberty mode began to form his request, they both got an immediate, painful reminder why forgetting about the upkeep of such techniques was a bad idea.

* * *

The time it took for them to find an unused training field was just about enough for their ears to stop ringing mercilessly. Hinata was almost glad for the distraction from the embarrassment of the situation. Naruto was not to blame, he was hardly used to that form of training. But she let herself get distracted and made herself look silly. On the positive note whatever he was about to try seemed to interest Naruto, and apparently he wanted her to keep on training with him. All was not lost, she could make up for the mistake, show him what she's made of!

The field they arrived at was one of the more commonly used, with man-height posts worn smooth by countless practitioners of the martial arts kicking and punching them into shape. Hinata just barely resisted the urge to hide behind one of them. She held out relatively fine so far, she could not do that now.  
"So, um, what did you want to do?"

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but I sort of have too much chakra. You probably remember, I can do a shadow clone," a single hand sign, a poof, and a real, physical copy of Naruto appeared, then dismissed itself "but when I try to make a regular one" Naruto did the hand sign sequence, followed by a measly puff and a pale, imperfect, ghostly Naruto appearing for half a second before fading away. He scratched his temple nervously. "… Yeah, I'm not so good at them. So I was thinking, since that technique is in the Academy and doesn't actually do much, it must need little chakra, right? If I could grab just as little chakra as I can, and built up enough of it to make the jutsu work, that would be like a continuation of the control thing you've shown me earlier, right? But I need you to tell me if I'm using enough of it. So, uh, could you help me out with that? Please?"

Hinata felt the embarrassment already building up, hoping she did not get too red. She did not want to make things awkward, and while for now she could just tell the amount of chakra Naruto was using by a simple sense of it, if they got to more difficult things sooner or later she'd have to use her Byakugan, and she did not want to get too much in the habit of that, lest she fully master it and temptation got the worse of her. On the other hand if she was honest with herself, she knew that she couldn't refuse Naruto anything he's asked for, never mind something like this, previously the stuff of dreams.

"Yes, I'd love to help, Naruto-kun." Her response had him beaming happily. By the time Hinata blinked off her surprise at the notion of this actually happening, he already set to work, enthusiastically jumping into it, and promptly producing another pale imitation of himself. Hinata got herself together. She was here to help him, and she had to admit he needed the help, so this was not the time to be bashful about being asked to help, but to actually give it.

"Naruto-kun! Remember what you just said! You are using too much chakra and the technique can't handle it. Try it like we have previously. Take control of the smallest possible amount of chakra you can, like before, build it up, and do just enough to make the technique work. Like this." Demonstrations were not her strong suit, but nonetheless she pulled off a flawless clone, intangible and unthinking, but at a glance indistinguishable from its creator.

"Right! Do it like before." Naruto was surprised at Hinata's tone, laced with an odd strength when she directed him now. There was still that tone to it that he could never place, but he also couldn't help but feel silly for explaining his idea, only to try it completely wrong. What she told him before his fight with Neji was one of very few genuinely good things anyone's ever had to say about him, and he did not want her to think less of him. Still, it was nice to see her not be so timid for once and come out of her shell. He decided he liked that bit of strength in her voice, just preferred it not directed at something stupid he just did. Pranks and classes were one thing, but he knew he was not actually as dumb as people said, and it didn't do to disappoint the people who saw past that.

He concentrated. The same amount of chakra used for the senses came under his control, and now with a bit of practice he felt he was getting better at controlling it. He pictured the jutsu he wanted to do. Not the regular Shadow Clone that was by now a reflex, but a regular one that used to give him nightmares. It was a simple technique, moreso than most everything else he could do, but he never once pulled it off properly. Maybe he was doing it all wrong back then. What he had at hand was clearly not enough, the technique wouldn't even start, but that was at least a new problem, one that never came up before with techniques. He doubled, tripled the amount he used, still to no avail.  
He flicked his eye to the side, and saw Hinata look at him, smiling with encouragement. This really was different than trying just alone, having someone beside you and see their fists clenched, knowing they are rooting for you to get it right. He grinned, determined not to let her down.

At five times the smallest amount of chakra he could control, finally, the simple technique clicked into place. Normal coloration, a most satisfying poof of a chakra-being coming into existence, its expression mirroring his own excitement at finally having succeeded. Hesitantly he poked it with his finger, to find it went straight through the technique.

He did it, after who knows how many years! He didn't care much for the actual utility of the technique, he was elated that he could finally put an end to one of his most persistent failures from the Academy, thanks to his new training partner.  
Happy with the success, he turned towards Hinata and saw it.

She was smiling, genuinely and honestly, at just his success of a technique he should have known already. He saw her being happy for him without strings attached, no big rivalry or duty making her help him, and this made him feel in a whole new way he simply had no words for. He has always imagined, dreamt of success as thumbing his nose at an uncaring world, in one huge act of I-Told-You-So, proving his worth and rubbing everyone's noses in it. The idea of someone being happy for him succeeding and rooting for him just for its own sake hasn't occurred to him quite this way before, and put things in a whole new perspective. He's had paternal, mentor figures in his life he thought cared for him. He knew for certain he had that sort of bond with Iruka and Ero-Sennin, maybe even Kakashi-sensei, occasionally. His friendship with his teammates was special, but still it conformed to what he'd expected, rejection turned to tolerance and finally grudging friendship. He would not have had it another way, he valued all he had dearly, but this was different.

He was not much good at reading people nor inclined to do it in the first place, but now he noticed it in earnest, he realised that she was never anything but kind to him, the few times they talked she tried to help him each and every time. He did not know why she was like that, what was different so that he didn't have to prove to her he wasn't a waste of space, but it did not matter. The sense exercises, becoming a bit more direct and forceful to make him try harder and finally her reaction to him just succeeding at a basic, Academy level jutsu brought a new idea into his head. She was strange sometimes, reacted differently to things he'd say and her shyness made her even more difficult to understand than other people he was close with, but she was on his side. Not a rival or elder mentor, but rather someone who was his equal, someone like him, who wanted him to achieve, who saw some worth in him. He didn't know what to make of that, but had a few ideas how to handle it. For starters he'd make it damn sure to be like that for her as well.

He jumped to the air in celebration, then pointed at Hinata.  
"We did it! I finally pulled off the Clone Jutsu! And I just got the thing to thank you for your help. I'm gonna teach you how to make Shadow Clones!"

"Oh, um, you really don't have to, I mean…" Hinata struggled to properly answer this. Thank her? She barely did anything, just introduced him to a simple exercise. She was hardly the type to use much jutsu anyway, and she wouldn't be any good at it and... thank her?

"Yes I do! You helped me out lots, and the chakra control thing will help me be stronger, so the least I can do is return the favour. I know you're already strong, I've seen you fight, but it's useful and I just discovered something new and fun with it. So, what do you say?" Naruto's face still happy with achievement and insistent they work together more, for her benefit at that, left her with little choice.  
Thoughts zooming around in her mind in the face of that, she smiled and nodded happily.

* * *

Besides instructing Konohamaru in his first signature move, Naruto has never had the opportunity to teach anyone, to share something he knew, and watch them discover it for themselves. For a moment he considered that was what made Hinata react the way she did at him getting the technique right, but his gut told him otherwise. Teaching her the motions, trying to describe what she should be imagining, how to handle her chakra was surprisingly enjoyable, and he did notice himself grinning even more than he usually did, but the few times she smiled there was more to it than that. He wasn't the type to poke at such things too much, and teaching her the technique took up most of his attention, but the idea and questions surrounding it did etch themselves into his mind. There was no urgency to it, but he couldn't help but get that it was something important there, something to try and find an answer to.

These little questions largely went on in the back of his mind, almost in the unconscious, as a small thing hiding in the shadow of the bigger and more immediate, daunting task of helping her learn the Shadow Clone technique. Her chakra control was far, far above his, and she got the fundamentals and the signs involved very quickly even without a scroll, but it all was offset by a problem he sidestepped: the chakra requirements for the technique.

This was her third try. The first resulted in an adorable, tiny version of her that looked up at the two normal-sized humans and was dispelled by sheer force of embarrassment. The second was a proper one, but it ran out of chakra in a fraction of a second.

"Come on, Hinata, you can do it!" Naruto tried to cheer her on. "You've got the hard part down, you just need to pour enough chakra into it. It took me hours to just get the hand signs that thingie struct- I mean chakra matrix to work properly."

Still grasping for air, Hinata's embarrassment around him gave way to her tiredness.  
"But how do you use that much chakra? I've never had to knead up that amount before."

"Well, Kakashi-sensei said that the technique uses half of your chakra. I can make so many because I have a lot of it. Plus most of it sort of comes back to you, I think. So I guess what we could do in the long run, since we're training partners, is try and increase how much you have, so it's easier. But try it again, push all the chakra you can into it! I know you can do it!"

"T-training partners? You mean not just for today?" Briefly, she worried the sensory technique from earlier did some permanent damage to her ear.

"Well, I really liked training with you today, and I think I got a lot better because of it, so I'd like to help you get better too. I mean you are already good, but do you want to keep on training together?"

"Yes!" The tiredness evaporated from Hinata's eyes.

"Then let's make that technique work! I'll join in, try to do it with as much of the tiny bits of chakra as I can. Deal?"

"Yes!" Right then, there was not a thing she did not feel like she was capable of doing.

She positively glowed with energy and determination. He grinned and quietened, focused inwards, trying his best to achieve the degree of control to use only what he needed, not a particle more.  
She committed everything she had in store, poured so much of her chakra into the technique that she was practically flaring pale purple with her energy.  
He focused, like earlier, shutting all but her presence out, felt, really felt the ocean of energy in himself, refused to open the floodgate for the technique, and let it pour in slowly, delicately, precisely.  
They reached the point of completion for the technique in synch, despite the odds.  
"Shadow Clone Justsu!"

Two jutsu made their noises, and suddenly there were four people in the training field.  
Two Narutos high-fived in celebration. Two Hinatas looked at each other with quiet joy.  
Two Narutos hugged two Hinatas in celebration. Two Hinatas went beet red, wished the moment would never end and fought desperately not to faint.  
They succeeded – if barely.

"Haha! I knew you could do it!" Naruto shouted happily, once he let her go. She was, she had to be honest to herself, very happy that he praised her, but considerably less so the hug ended. "The clones can withstand a good bit of punishment, can hit stuff and do jutsu – and yeah, there's one more thing Kakashi-sensei taught me about them. It's pretty new to me too, so let me think how to show this…"

He hummed and thought for a moment, then whispered something in his clone's ear. It nodded excitedly, grabbed the clone Hinata by hand and led her off, into the nearby forest.

"N-Naruto-kun, what is your clone doing?" Hinata asked, watching the departing duo, bewildered and perhaps a bit jealous.

"Aha! You don't know, do you? Neither do I, besides telling him what to do, as in, um…" Naruto, buzzing with energy after pulling off a technique in picture perfect form, almost lost the track of his explanation. Fortunately his training partner could, even a bit preoccupied, puzzle together his meaning.

"You can tell him what to do but you don't have direct, continuous control?" Hinata let the awkwardness of the situation, her imagination running off with her, and slight jealousy at her own clone be put to the side by trying to figure out what Naruto was trying to show her.

"Yeah! That's what I meant. You're smart, you know? Anyway, neither of us know what they are doing, right? I figure they should be out of sight by now, and… here we go!"

* * *

Hiding away from the originals behind an old, huge tree the two clones finally stopped. Hinata's clone briefly wondered if it made sense to blush at Naruto's clone leading her by the hand. She just came into existence, and so did he, but she had a great admiration and affection for him – or was it the originals?  
Maybe it made no sense at all. She thought about it, and eventually decided that she didn't really give a damn, the boy she admired was leading her by the hand, and she was going to enjoy that to the fullest, with a small, incredibly embarrassing part of her that was far too much into romantic nonsense insisting that as clones of the originals, she and him were made for each other. Mercifully unaware of the goings-on of her mind, the Naruto clone finally stopped.

"This should be a right place." He looked around contentedly.

"What did you want to do?" Hinata's clone was as curious as the original, with an equal amount of ideas and hopes that she mentally kicked herself for.

"Play Rock-Paper-Scissors." He declared simply, happy with the idea he - well, the original him - came up with to demonstrate.

"Oh. Wait, what?" Hinata's clone was more baffled than disappointed.

"Well, it's sorta like this: the thing about Shadow Clones like us is that you need to split your chakra, like our originals just did, but if we are dismissed or incapacitated by an attack, the chakra that made us gets reabsorbed, as is whatever we learned before." Naruto's clone tried his best to mimic the teaching styles of Kakashi-sensei, to little success. "It's a spying technique originally, I just didn't know that and used it for fighting. Cool isn't it? Anyway, I – uh, the original Naruto – wanted to show it off, explain how it works, so he thought we should play Rock-Paper-Scissors and dismiss ourselves. The originals back there will learn who won, and we have fulfilled our purpose. Ready?"

"I-I suppose so." Hinata's clone was still flustered, and loaded with far too many a question to voice.

"Worried about dismissing yourself? Don't worry, I've done it thousands of times. It gets less weird with time and use." Naruto's clone too halted, corrected himself. "Well, I think so anyway, what with the others' memories. Anyway, are you ready?"

"Rock!"

"Paper!"

"Scissors!"

"Huh, you win. Well done." Naruto's clone flashed a grin at Hinata's clone's paper beating his rock, and dismissed itself.  
The clone Hinata considered her own experiences: her life practically began with the embrace of the boy she liked, she's had a small adventure, she had her high times of excitement and a brief disappointment, made it further than the original in at least one thing, and at the end of it all, finished with a small victory.  
As existences went, this could have been a whole lot worse, she thought as she dismissed herself too.

* * *

Suddenly, Hinata blinked in surprise.  
Naruto grinned, exactly the same way as his clone before her ...except he has been talking about the clones taking their time. She was exactly where she's been standing all along, but suddenly recalled walking, led by the hand by Naruto into the forest.

"I won?" She asked, unsure about the conflicting memories and staring at her hand he led her by, straight out of a fantasy.

"Yep, you did. Strange isn't it?" Naruto's answer confirmed the explanation given by his clone. Hinata mentally kicked herself for some of the things her clone was thinking. "I thought they are good for fighting and stuff, but also good for spying, so they should be especially useful for someone who specialises in that. We'll work on making it easier to use, but I think it will help you out. I, uh, don't have much to give, but wanted to thank you for helping me, and the idea sort of popped into my head. After all, it will be my duty to look after everyone." He added with another grin, one smaller than before, a bit more controlled.

Hinata regarded him for a heartbeat. Just for a second, she thought it was not so much Naruto, but her sensei or the various authority figures in her life standing in front of her, giving her some precious advice or knowledge to keep herself or others safe with. Besides the initial surprise … and appreciation of how it fit him, she more or less ignored the badge of office he wore until now.

He was the same old Naruto she knew and liked for all these years, but something was different about him. Maybe it was the weight of promotion or maybe some of the training, but there was just a little bit more composure to the way he acted, he seemed a little bit more thoughtful, focused. She never really broke down what things specifically she liked about him, he was as he was. She would not have wished any of his qualities different, that would have been wrong.  
But seeing him re-forge himself not just as someone stronger but as more fit for the responsibility, well, that made her hopeful that she could do it too.

It was strange, the effect he had on her. She's always trained herself raw, but just being around him seemed to give her a lot more energy and determination to push on – she did not think she's ever had as successful a day of training as this before. With him around she felt she could do anything, overcome any obstacle. That boundless energy in him vitalized her as well; just learning the basics of that technique would have taken her the better part of a day, but with him on her side she got it down to a rough, workable stage in practically no time at all.  
She felt strong, in body and spirit. She could feel it, finally ready to train in earnest in what she did best, flawed or no. Maybe it was having a bit of a taste in how transitory life can be thanks to the clone, maybe it was the hug, but just for now, she felt she could take another step forward.  
They were now training partners, something beyond she'd never have dared to hope for. And withholding from him the best way she could help, just to indulge her shyness would be selfish and wrong.

"Naruto-kun." She could feel the haze lift up, her stature naturally adjust itself. "Thank you for teaching me the jutsu, I promise I will master it with your help!"

"It's okay Hinata, I was happy to help you after what you've done for me." His smile, as always, made her heart race but she had a greater focus than being caught up in that.

"You said that I am strong, that you've seen me fight. Thank you for that. I am not sure if I'd call myself strong, but… would you like to spar? You are one of the strongest people I know where it really matters, but I also know there is much I could help you with." She forced herself to speak the words. Sparring, in her experience was always painful, ended in dejection, and much as she was told it was in good spirits, she could never fully embrace the idea of fighting someone to strengthen their bonds. But with him, right now she felt like she could cross that barrier, own the legacy of her family, try her very best to help him improve, and make a step forward, enough to be in arms reach of him.

"Hinata?" It was Naruto's turn to be surprised. There was again that strength in her eyes and voice, not corrective or directing, not even challenging, just simply present, beside her ever-present kindness, determination and a mix of emotions he couldn't begin to guess at. He's seen her with that stance and pride only once before. She meant business, and the knowledge of that made a wide smile spread on his face, one Hinata matched with her own. "I'd love to!"

* * *

It was with some haste that Hinata fished around her pockets for her healing cream.  
Naruto would be fine, of course, and already he was looking better, but she would rather jump off a cliff than not try to make good with him again, in case she just ruined the whole afternoon. It was a _short_ match, something to do with an unspoken agreement to keep the fight as simple as possible, a regular one-on-one spar.

Their match was a lot less romantic than the myths spreading like wildfire among her fellow kunoichi about such 0occurrences would lead her to believe, what with having to make herself actually hit Naruto-kun if she wanted him to respect her as fellow shinobi, but neither of them seemed to mind it.  
Unlike her matches against Hanabi where she could not see anyone but her sister, here she saw him, but also an equal to be fought, without ill will but just for the pure enjoyment and mutual improvement. She saw his punches, controlled to be powerful but not to hurt too much, and her training told her what to do. She floated around the strikes, Gentle Fist causing mild and quickly passing weakness rather than genuine injury, dancing around him with a confidence in her heart, enjoying the moment he turned and their eyes met.

For half a heartbeat their movements felt in synch, she knew what he'd do next and knew that he felt how she was about to move as well. The memory of that fleeting second, like the others of this day, she wouldn't give up for all the riches of the world.  
That brief clarity, of course, would not last long. As they moved in for the next exchange, his... improvised style of combat slipped up, Hinata was unable to stop herself, messing up control of the technique, and landed a real, genuine Gentle Fist strike right on his rib, bypassing his defensive gear.

"Ow. Thanks, Hinata. That was a nice move, by the way." Naruto laughed while applying her cream to his side. Hinata was turning her back to him, not wanting to intrude, and taking the opportunity to hide her blush. "So that's what that smell was, huh. I knew I knew it from somewhere. Do you make them?"

"Y- yes. I found the recipe for them in the clan library, and they are simple enough that I can make them myself. I-I'm sorry for hurting you, Naruto-kun." She cut off the conversation, with some anxiety in her voice.

"Don't worry about it, Hinata, I'm already feeling better, and besides, Kakashi-sensei kicked my butt worse when he tested my team. Give me a minute and I'll be good as new. If anything, I should be thanking you again. Sensei was right, I should be using the kata I lear- well, went over again with him." With a single move he got up again, tenderly touched the rib, and stretched with satisfaction. "This cream of yours really is good, y'know."

"Your sensei fought you on your first day?" Hinata, still blushing at the compliment, tried to imagine having to fight Kurenai-sensei on her first day as a genin. The idea did not come with pleasant mental images.

"Didn't yours?" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"No. Well, not as such." Hinata wondered for a second. "A- although that depends on the definition, I suppose. Mostly she just asked us questions and put us under a genjutsu at the end to see when we'd realise it. She's taught us a lot about how to resist them, since illusory techniques are often put up to confuse spies."

"That sounds so cool! Until now, Kakashi-sensei mainly trained Sasuke, only teaching the tree-walking technique to the rest of us." Seeing Hinata's surprise, he rushed to defend the honour of his teacher. "I think he wanted to let us develop on our own, and focused on the bast- Sasuke when he had to make sure Gaara did not kill or injure him. Besides, now that I'm a chuunin he has been teaching me a lot of things, so I have no way to complain. He even got Asuma-sensei to help me when it turned out I was a natural Wind element user."

"You already know an element? Hinata seemed impressed.

"Um, 'know' may be a stretch just now. I just began training with it. Here, watch this!" He ran to a nearby tree and plucked himself some leaves. "I still haven't gotten it right, but …"

Hinata looked on with interest as he gathered chakra in his palm, changed its nature and began cutting along the leaf's surface in a thin, blade-like chakra. He made it to almost half the distance when he lost control, and laughed with embarrassment.  
"If you like we can work on that too." She barely noticed herself getting bolder again, just for a bit. She liked the feeling it came with. "After you are feeling better, I mean."

* * *

Once back home, Hinata wondered whether tomorrow she'd just wake up from what would turn out to be a sweet dream, but decided to hope it was all real. It was not all perfect, after all. There were things she wanted to say and ask that she could not. She could barely think of how to express the gratitude she felt for him for all the things he's already done for her, and with today not only did they share a wonderful experience with the sensory practice routine, he actually taught her a new jutsu. She knew damn well that what little she helped him with chakra control and martial arts skills was far from enough, that she'd have to try harder to help him in turn. But finally she was making a difference, even if a little, and that was what mattered.

Before they knew it hours passed by and Hinata had to rush home unless she was to face the scrutiny of her fellow clansmen. As such they broke off a bit too suddenly and arbitrarily for her liking, but before parting ways he has given her another huge, heart-warming smile, thanked her, asked if they could repeat the training tomorrow, and best of all, he said he was very happy that he chose her as the person to ask to train with!

Deep down Hinata was someone who constantly struggled with hope and depression, or rather fear. She knew this but could not help it; it was just the way that she was. But hearing that he'd choose, after some serious thinking, to ask her to train with him, well, that was not only one of the most positive things anyone's ever said about her, but also something that made her reconsider her weakness, and made her strive to be better more than ever.

She was still far too afraid to dare do the things she desperately wanted to. She wanted to ask him about the end of her match, and his fight against her cousin. She wanted desperately to thank him for standing up for her, for inspiring her, for cheering her, and really, for saving her and for being who he was. She wanted to just talk to him about anything, so long as it had nothing to do with techniques or chakra, be it his favourite cup ramen brand and maybe introducing him to red bean soup and cinnamon rolls, to ask him about growing up without a clan overseeing you, yet having no one to look out for you – besides a small little girl always wishing to go over and talk, but held back either physically by a protective bodyguard or by her own fears.  
Half her mind screamed at her to hug him before rushing off, but even if given a million years of self-confidence training, she could barely even consider doing it, much less gathering the resolve to go through with it. What if she frightened him? There were a million things that could go wrong, and she dared not spoil the wonderful day by doing something so wrong.

But where it all left her, what could never be taken away, was the fact that it was a wonderful day with the boy she admired above anyone else. Changes were taking place in the village, with her team and missions they'd get, in her clan and all around her, she was growing like crazy and kept on stumbling on her feet as her body rapidly rearranged itself, only adding to her already formidable self-doubts, awkwardness and shyness. But for the first time in years, because and in spite of all these things changing about her life, she felt good and truly hopeful about the future.

 **OMAKE**

Kunai hitting their target make a beautiful, satisfying noise to the ears of anyone who's practiced throwing them for a few hours.

 _Thud-thud-thud-clank-thud-clank-clank_  
"Damn it!" A pause.  
 _Thud –– thud – thud – thud – clank – clank – thud_  
"Son of a-"

Haruno Sakura had a wonderful beginning to her day, but very quickly it managed to curl up, die and rot. After that, anything else was a moot attempt at a salvage operation as far as she was concerned. Without Naruto around and being a buzz-kill, she finally had a lovely morning walk with Sasuke, chatting about all the things in the world. Well, it was mostly just her chatting. In fact all he's said was a simple greeting as they walked on to meet with the others. But she was certain that he listened.

Better yet, that pig Ino either finally realised what was whose territory or was just preoccupied, thinking that only her team got a promotion, she did not disrupt her even at the training ground. It was well worth enduring every second of her gloating and boasts of how good the whole team was too, it all came crashing down when Sasuke reported Naruto as a chuunin. Oho, she would not forget the beautiful, precious face Ino made when that little revelation was dropped into her lap. Their eyes locked, and in a single look, Sakura was sure that she radiated off a year's supply of smug, right into her rival's face.

 _Clank – thud – clank-thud-clank-thud-thud_  
"Gah!"

But of course all beautiful things come to an end. Kurenai-sensei's session was interesting and it promised her a chance to finally make something of herself, not just be the dead weight she's been afraid she was becoming, but damn it, it was accompanied by bad signs.  
Damn that practice session! What was Kurenai-sensei thinking when she paired her Sasuke-kun with that infernal woman? Couldn't she see what she was doing? And what was that whole business at the end of their training anyway? The memory made her blood boil.

Sakura held no illusions of exclusive rights on trying to start a proper relationship with Sasuke. Ino was her main rival, but some of the other girls from their class have also had some degree of association, and it was fair game. Not that they stood a chance – petty competition aside and besides the more shallow sort of fun in trying to charm him, she knew that at the end of the day, she felt something actually substantial for him, something she did not when they first became a team or during their first missions. He did not show much of it, but there was something unsaid between them, on both ends.  
Good and bad too, but there was something that she could tell was real.

 _Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud_  
"Aha!"

So why, then, did he see it fit to infuriate her so much? Doing that, right in front of her! That was uncalled for, and plain wrong.  
That tramp just up and decided to turn a sparring match into a kunai throwing competition, clearly to impress him, and he _liked_ it. Sasuke 'Expressions Are For Other People' Uchiha not only showed signs of motivation, but had the gall to go as far as _grin_ during the fight! Okay, he's done that a few times with Naruto, Lee and Gaara, but that was different. This time it was a kunoichi, for crying out loud!

 _Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud_  
 _Thud-clank-thud-thud-thud-clank-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-clank-thud-thud-thud-thud_

Okay, so he liked his girls on the more skilled side. Message received. She'd show him. But first she'd show that Tenten girl who it is she's dealing with! From now on, she was going to train her arse off. And if that was not gonna cut it, she would find out whatever their jounin supposed-instructor was doing after he was done shining up the skills of their recently appointed glorious leader, and have a few worlds, some understanding and some less so, with him about how the team had her in it as well, and that she would get some actual training or else.  
This was it. The first blood was drawn, a boundary best not crossed thoughtlessly hopped over.

No more Miss Nice Gal.


	7. Testing, testing

**Chapter 6 - Testing, testing**

The first afternoon of heightened training was a hectic time for many people among the Konoha Rookies. In most cases it was simple training, nervous overstocking on gear and weapons, and dealing with a manic new training regime burning with youth. Few of them really thought of the hardships that could come, dangers to be faced without their instructors, and those who did had ways of dealing with that. Uchiha Sasuke, for one, welcomed and relished the opportunity.

Above all, he was a proud person. He had little else left but a sense of bearing all that was left of the idea of his clan on his shoulders, to make sure that the soon-to-be-last Uchiha is one who demands respect and signals all the power of his dead kin, focused in one person, with one goal.  
These convictions had given him willpower and ambition, goals to live for. They have given him pride to guide him on his search for power enough to meet his goals.  
Pride, which took a bit of a blow when someone just up and grabbed him when he left the training field, like he was just anyone, any hapless little genin.

He was not unfamiliar with his assailant. There was a vague recollection of one of the jounin in charge of the second exam cutting and licking Naruto's blood off his face for laughs. Being kidnapped at all was an unpleasant prospect, and the little knowledge he had of this woman did not brighten his day - he had enough troubles with the other sex already. Speaking of which, to his quiet horror he realised that his determination and bloody single mindedness did not completely stomp out those parts of his mind that were of a healthy thirteen year old boy, and consequentially being held tight by a kunoichi wearing little but a coat and a fully body mesh suit proved more distracting than it had any right to.

Not that he'd ever let such details get in the way of behaving like a shinobi. He did everything by the book: determined he was being taken towards the village centre and not away from it, bid his time and attempted a body switch and escape – only to be met by an amused laugh and a less interesting but more horrifying, tight embrace of a pack of snakes shooting out of her sleeve.

"My, I figured you for the type to be too uppity to try anything. You do have some fight in ya. Isn't that adorable?" She ran a delicate finger along his cheek, reached his chin and successfully broke his usual method of dealing with people, letting his hair fall forward and looking down. With surprising force she made him turn his head up and looked straight into his eyes.

"Well, we are on orders, and I did not feel like convincing you to come along. Also, my eyes are up here, squirt. I am of course flattered, but we can't have you ogle your superior officer, not when we have one of my dear colleagues and her pupils trying to snoop on us." She grinned and winked as she let him go.

"I- I wasn't doing anything like that, I-" Sasuke paused, realising what was going on. With just a few words she managed to completely disarm him, take his focus off of a possible escape, and put him on the defensive when she was the one who grabbed him in the first place. His experience with kunoichi was limited to girls his age, most of whom just tended to throw themselves at him with a frankly disturbing eagerness, but one who was the real thing, who clearly to some degree used charms, rather than just regular ninja techniques, was a scary thing indeed.

"Anko, you know full well that that there is an etiquette code regarding how junior ninja are to be handled. If anyone should be more sensible about how we as seniors should behave with them, it is you." A disapproving voice came, crystal clear despite the distance, from the other end of the clearing.

The figures emerging from the shadows of the forest this crazy woman took him through were familiar, which brought a strange mix of relief, embarrassment and hurt pride. Yuuhi Kurenai, flanked by Sakura and Ino would have been his hope to be freed, yet the glare she was giving to the jounin next to him had even him gulp with fear. The girls beside her looking like they just went through seven kids of hell helped little, especially as judging by their expressions the jounin's command was the only thing holding them back from making an attempt on his kidnapper's life.

Logically, analytically he knew them both to be more or less incompetent when it came to real combat. Sakura gradually became less of a pain, and besides her constant, annoying attempts at romantic nonsense he's grown to appreciate her occasional insight, but her actual utility on any of the missions they've done was minimal. He didn't know much about Ino, but the two did mutually KO each other according to Kakashi, so her level would be somewhere in the range of Sakura's. So why the outraged duo now scared him as they glared at the woman beside him, AND made him feel like he's done something wrong, well, he did not know and more importantly he hoped never to learn.

"Oh? Then is it appropriate to have your two little hopefuls tag along? Were they too invited when I was not listening? A bit of a demonstration in the applied arts, perhaps? Girls their age go for looks as I recall, and all those nice, strong muscles on the guy with the arms would impress them, I bet." She licked her lips appreciatively, voice full of glee. "The two love-struck kunoichi breaking the poor prisoner out and escaping together to live a life of passion! I can practically read the Icha-Icha novel already!" Anko struck back, shattering the anger of the girls, turned them into an impressive shade of red, and putting a frown on the other jounin's face as she approached. Part of Sasuke's mind not intensely focused on getting out of this situation appreciated the casual way both kept their distance just outside where most weaponry or jutsu striking would be too quick to properly block.

"Stop that, you know I cannot stand that dreck. And no, I don't intend to take them along, we were just caught up in conversation. They might not look it, but these two do hold some promise." She turned to the two girls, caught between boiling with rage and speculating what the jounin would be up to, with clear authority in her voice. "You've done well today, I'm proud of both of you. We'll continue the tests with both of you for now, but bear in mind that I have other responsibilities as well. Whenever I'm working with someone else, you will tag along with Gai and try to improve your other skills. Now go, I'm sure there are things you can do on your own or together, but I have more important business to take care of."

Still too embarrassed to speak, the girls bowed and left, leaving Sasuke with the two jounin. Sasuke wasn't sure if their lack of words directed at him was a good or bad sign.

"Well, twerp, I hope I won't have to drag you the rest of the way. This is official business, and you are called for." The last of the kunoichi's snakes departed, thankfully.  
Sasuke decided that if he was to learn anything, the usual silent treatment won't cut it now.

"What is this about? Why am I needed?" Between Gai's exercises and now this, Sasuke was starting to miss Kakashi.

"Well it ain't your pretty eyes, darling. We are involving you because you have _this_." After a sidelong glance at her colleague, Anko let down her jacket and leaned forward, down to Sasuke's eye height who almost went as red as the girls, before noticing that she was not actually just teasing him again, but rather showing him a curse mark on her neck the same as his. Kurenai groaned and buried her face in her palm.

"I think he got the idea, Anko. Can we move on, before you completely corrupt the poor boy? After this whole thing I might propose the merciful thing to just give him a mind-wipe, just so he is spared your influence." Her voice was perfectly clear despite her palm covering most of her face.

"Spoilsport." Anko pouted, then set off, Kurenai in tow. For a second Sasuke measured his options, but thought better of giving that woman more reasons to toy with him and followed.

* * *

The lab must have been underground somewhere, evidenced by the damp feeling of the walls, the temperature and the general feeling of the place. This was mere guesswork on Sasuke's part; he may have been needed for whatever reason, but he clearly did not have the security clearance to actually know where this facility was of how one got in or out. A genjutsu evidently impervious to breaking by sharingan by Kurenai ensured that he did not learn much of the facility as well as that he stub his toe a couple of times. Come to think of it, he already was making presumptions of where it was and how to leave, that was ingrained ninja training, but bearing his company in mind, there was no way to know what was in front of him was actually real, or for that matter that the effects were not just achieved through some nifty trick of architecture.

Put it simply, Sasuke had no idea where he was, walking along an unknown corridor with a woman with a worse understanding of personal space than Naruto who happened to find preying on him amusing, and another who causally entertained the idea of messing with his memories. He was not particularly pleased with those factors involved, not even after being shown the official parchment from the Hokage, signalling this as an official function for the village.

Finally they arrived at a door and the two jounin gave a complicated set of knocks and taps. Noiselessly the door slid open, revealing a fairly large room, lit not by the traditional lanterns or those torches with small, smokeless permanent flame jutsu affixed to them, but rather a set of faintly blue hemispheres on the ceiling. Alongside the left wall there were two beds with bodies covered by sheets, above both a simple photograph of a curse mark similar to his and Anko's own, but each with its own design. Unrecognisable medical equipment on trays lay by the beds, and Sasuke spotted tubes heading from under the sheets, into odd jars and machines. He had an uncharacteristic moment of hoping, for the sake of whomever those bodies were that they were indeed dead. Preferably that they also died before the nasty-looking tools along the wall got to see much use as well.

At the centre of the room, protected by several layers of seals, a barrier jutsu on the ground and finally a small, ordinary cell with iron bars, a man was hung up. Someone clearly went to some lengths to secure him: there were two chains built into the cell by which you could hang people up, but there were four others as well, newly welded onto the bars to secure the other two pairs of arms the captive seemed to have. He was out cold.  
Alongside the back wall there was a small desk with notes on them, a blackboard and a pin board, both littered by chemical and jutsu formulae, and the right wall was largely taken over by a big glass window and a door to an adjacent room.

It was safe to say that this did not seem like a room where cheerful, fun things happened.  
So to see a huge man in a tacky red-green outfit, giving off an aura like he was a sixty year old Naruto and laughing out loud at the expression of an embarrassed medic beside him was in a sizable discord with the overall atmosphere. To add to the bizarre field generated by the man, while he was working away with various scrolls, messing with the machines and shot off jutsu of no noticeable effect, faster than Sasuke's ever seen anyone do, he was having a cheerful chat with the woman beside him – who was elbow deep into a body via an opening on the sheet. He happily waved them in, then used a shorter hand seal sequence to close, and presumably seal the room back up. Sasuke frowned. Small-talk should not happen in rooms like this, it went against all sense of propriety he had. A shady torture chamber ought to be that, not just another place people worked and chatted away. The old man's mug on the desk with "World's Best Author" written on it did not help much either.

He let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. The secrecy involved in just getting to the place had him imagine cold efficiency, but all there was here was more of Konoha. Admittedly it was a little bit more rough around the edges and probably not the stuff the village would put in the front window, but it was familiar enough.

"Oh, you make that face now but let me tell you, she did worse things we were genin. Those were the days." He turned towards the arrivals. "What took you so long? Brat give you any trouble?"

"No, sir. I was asked by Kakashi and Asuma to see whether two of their genin could be instructed in genjutu, and the initial tests took longer than I thought." Kurenai bowed slightly as a way of apology. Anko curiously peered into Shizune's handiwork in the body, and Sasuke, having not much better to do right now, eyed the strung up figure in the centre of the room.

"Don't worry, Shizune here ran into some troubles of her own, we'd have just made you wait anyway. Turns out Big Guy had some whole new organs packed in and the old ones rearranged, plus some of the blows of Whatshisname, err, Chouza, left bone fragments all over the place. Nasty way to go, eh?" He left the medic to her deliberations and started fiddling with the seals on the cell itself.

"Move a bit, brat, I need to get to the…" Faster than the eye could see he suddenly had a brush in hand, and added a small, intricate note onto one of the sealing tags. "... good, that's set. Right," he turned to Kurenai "that should allow you to prepare Arms for the trials. I've already cleared it with Security, just in case."

Sasuke stared as the genjutsu mistress set to work, brush and various jars with strange-smelling ointments at hand, applying them to some unknown effect. He had a basic familiarity with genjutsu as all Uchiha did, but learning about creating them via methods other than direct dojutsu was something he never bothered with.  
Meanwhile the large man kept prodding away at the seals, beckoned Sasuke to follow him, then proceeded to the back of the room.

"So, you are Naruto's infamous rival, eh? I'm Jiraiya, glad to make the acquaintance and whatnot. Hold this still." He showed a large scroll into Sasuke's hands and painted a complex formula on it. "Good. We will be running some tests on your curse mark. Simple stuff, but it should help us figure it out, maybe even a way of removing the damn thing. Eventually, anyway. Have you had unexpected bouts of low chakra or felt random pains when trying to use any techniques?"

"No. Should I have? How do you even know Naruto?" The decisive speed coming from someone so old was a strange sight, and Sasuke was not that used to being ordered around in any case. Still, he found himself obeying the man, if for no other reason then that it gave him something to do while spectating the grittier parts of his profession.

"I prepared the brat for his fight in the Exams and taught him a couple of jutsu. He's a good kid, so don't be an ass to him. Anko, don't just watch Shizune, help make notes! Shizune, hurry up the end, will ya?" He raised his voice towards the women, then turned back to Sasuke with the same energy, if not volume." And please don't kid a kidder, you are not as good at hiding your reactions as you might think you are. Pain and unusual chakra with exhaustion, correct? It took me ages to work out a treatment for the troubles her seal gave Anko, which may help you as well, but only if you deign to be truthful."

Sasuke doubled down on trying not to react. The old guy was scarily like Naruto, but with life experience, some more brains and a security of presence and self that so far he thought was alien to his teammate's personality type.

"Your seal is a newer improved design, which is good because it interferes with your system less and is probably a lot less painful." The Jiraiya person followed his explanation, taking a quick sip of whatever was in the mug. "It's also bad because I am willing to bet Orochimaru shoved a bunch of horrible new hidden jutsu and booby traps in there, and probably more ways to interfere subtly. I'd ask you about any moodiness or bursts of anger, but one, I've worked with your clansmen before, and two, at you age of course you have 'em. Any nightmares? How's your appetite? Hold out your arm, remove those silly bandages."

"No nightmares. Normal appetite." The old man made some scribbles along his inner arm and drew some formula around the main artery on his lower palm. Sasuke had a brief moment of suspicion and raised an eyebrow, but his train of thought was intercepted.

"Don't make that face, kid. If I meant you harm, you wouldn't have time to get worried about it. Other arm." Sasuke obeyed, but didn't even bother trying to not snort.

"You're an old man in a lab who taught a moron some tricks. Don't pretend you'd have a chance against an Uchiha."

Jiraiya took this opportunity to let off another hearty laugh.  
"Ahahaha, he's got some bite! Well, you are right, I am old, and right now I am in a lab indeed. But do you know how I got to be old? I've kicked more ass than you've sat on, that's how. Let me see a brat with your attitude make it to half my age without having an eye taken out or someone blowing off your arm!"

Sasuke decided not to dignify that with an actual response and tried to steer the conversation towards more useful topics instead.  
"If I am to cooperate, tell me how this mark works. Clearly I am needed for this; it was put on me and is now part of me, so I need to know what it is. That's the price tag." Sasuke tried his best, most direct and serious note to break through the man's hazy personality. He may have decided to go for his own avenue to power, but the opportunity presented itself to learn about the mark, and strange or not, this Jiraiya person was preferable to the one who attacked him and injected him with the mark in the first place.

"Well, I've heard worse arguments. Tsunade will be on my ass for giving you unnecessary explanations, hell, possibly a temptation, but I've always preferred honesty and what you want is fair enough." He raised his head from his work to see how the rest of the team were doing "Good, Shizune, thanks for the help. After you are done cleaning up, could you help with the chakra meters? Just set 'em up with Anko, they are easy enough to figure out. I'll check the other room and run our little friend over the lecture."

Barely waiting for a sign of acknowledgement, he dragged Sasuke to the adjacent room. Besides the mirrored glass, it looked much like a gym in the Academy. It had weighs, a running mill, dummies, even a small target range and a number of other, simple equipment to measure a person's physical well-being, all of which looked regular enough, except for wires attached to most of them, which Sasuke supposed connected to the chakra meters, however those worked. The most out of place detail about the room were the signs of reinforcement: the equipment was bolted down, the edges of the glass were secured, the door had an intricate lock and was a sizeable slab of metal that he doubted even his Chidori could just pierce through.

"You'll get the lecture, but we are short on time, so you'll be helping out with the grunt-work while I'm giving it to you. Take it or leave it. We need to check and double-check the room is secure."

"Don't you have people to do that?" Once more Sasuke raised an eyebrow, unsure if he was the butt of a joke here.

"Normally we do. If you hadn't noticed, the village is a bit strained at the moment, especially of people with the security clearing to be here at all. The moment the test phase with Arms is done, Yuuhi will be called off to do who knows what else, Shizune just finished a critical operation a half hour ago, and Anko just finished a mission before I dragged her into this whole thing. I shouldn't even be in the village to begin with. So get busy. Start with the left hand side of the room and I'll be on the right. Make sure the corners are secured, there's nothing hidden anywhere, nothing is loose. While we do that, feel free to ask your questions." The man already was leaving for his side of the room, quick with routine rather than actually hurried by pressure. There was a job to do, and it was best to get it over with, his every move seemed to say, and Sasuke found it hard to disagree.

He got to it, wrecking his brain for the best questions to ask while making sure the lights were fixed on properly and the panels of the walls were not loose.  
"What IS the curse mark? How does it work – or how do you think it works?"

"Good correction. Simply, it is a chakra conversion tool, with an embedded sealing matrix to do the work of filtering the special properties of the chakra, and whatever else Orochimaru chooses to include in it. As for what it really is, well, describe the sensation of using it to me." Jiraiya tested the firmness of one of the benches and poked around under the treadmill.

"It was cold and darker than my normal chakra, somehow. It gave a rush that made me faster, stronger. But it also made me feel sick, almost retching, I was dizzy but felt like I could do anything. I never tested it properly, but I think it did something to my Chidori as well."Sasuke knocked along the floor and wall for any hollow places underneath.

"That seems to fit the bill, Anko had a similar description. What you felt was a corrupted, restructured and watered down form of the boost you get from using nature chakra, filtered through Orochimaru's own seal and his chakra in it, hence the cold, disgusting feel of it. Probably a side effect of whatever the hell he's done to himself over the years. How badly did it tire you out? Did it ever kick in on its own?" Jiraiya's voice still had a small echo to it, still under the metal bench. "Damn, whoever cleans this place does not do a thorough job."

"I… " Sasuke hated admitting weaknesses, but if it meant eliminating them through obtaining knowledge, he could take the hit to his dignity "I barely held off from passing out at the end of the worst times I've used it. When I was exhausted and out of chakra it activated on its own, especially before Kakashi sealed it off."

"Yep, that seems to be in tune with most of Anko's symptoms. If yours is anything like those three you've seen before, then the mark you carry is of a newer, more complex design, but is still fundamentally the same thing." A couple of metallic clangs came from Jiraiya's direction as he tested more equipment.

Sasuke checked the tiny ventilation shaft at the upper corner, and thought for a second. It didn't bring him any immediately, directly useful information, but…  
"How did she get the mark? And how about the others?"

"Anko was among those Orochimaru used to develop the mark, against their will, and the only survivor of ten. Anything more you'll have to ask from her. As for the others, they are spies from the Sound who came by the village yesterday and tried to kidnap you." The old man mentioned casually, without so much as a serious change in tone.

"What?" Sasuke dropped his work and fixed his eyes on the old man. He was attacked last night? With the state he was in... no, that was no excuse.

"You were lucky I was in town. There is a special sort of chakra that the curse marks rely on. Well, I am an expert on it, happened to use it last night and ended up sensing them. Luckily for you I decided to cut my drinks short and stop 'em." The old man looked up from his work, and without much of a damn given about his being upset, reminded him. "We are still not finished, you know, so if I am to keep on talking, you are to keep on working."

"You took on three people with these marks?" Sasuke barely believed what he was hearing.

"Four. The last one is still being grilled by T&I." Jiraiya absent-mindedly cleared his ear with his pinkie.

"But you say they had similar marks as mine! The amount of chakra it gives is on a whole other level, and there were four of them!" He finally burst out. The sheer power of that thing has been a constant burden on his mind, yet here was this geezer claiming he just beat four people using it? Fat chance!

"What did I say about working?" After a moment of tension, Sasuke got busy again. "That's better. I had backup. I wasn't drinking alone. Good too, we'd probably be stuck with simple post-mortem examinations if I didn't bring those three."

Sasuke began to assess his situation. They were running out of room to check, and he had no guarantees he'd get to ask more questions later on. He would have to pick carefully. How many users were there? Irrelevant. Why were the other designs different? It didn't matter. What other things could be embedded in the curse mark? It was important, but they were just finding out about the marks now and it could wait. He needed something simple, that could yield more information.

"That special chakra you mentioned and the mark as a conversion tool… precisely what were you talking about?" He finally asked, causing the old man to raise his head and bump it right into the next bench he was checking under. Yep, definitely some Naruto in there.

"Ow." He rubbed his head tenderly. "I was talking about brats listening too hard for their own good. But I said I'd tell you. I'm not the first user of natural chakra, but I am the first in a long time. Orochimaru was an old teammate of mine. Ever heard of the Sannin?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. This guy was a Sannin? More importantly a Sannin was Naruto's mentor? No wonder he got better.  
"You mean the –"

"Yep. That. Suffice it to say that I was very much similar to how Naruto is in your group, from what I've heard from Kakashi. The clown, the idiot, you name it. At least that brat has a better reason for it… don't ask. At any rate for some time I struggled to keep up with the other two in my team, but came into my strengths in time, and rediscovered the art of the legendary sages." For all his insistence that Sasuke work for his answers, the old man took a moment to lean his back against the wall, think of the past nostalgically as he began his explanation. For his part, Sasuke dared not stop working in case it cut off the explanation. "My teammate, no longer confident as the most powerful among us, grew jealous and obsessive, but found he didn't have what it took to master it himself. Others would simply have found other things to do, but he was not the sort to give up on a goal easily. I don't know if human experiments were already a hobby of his and he developed the mark using them, or turned to them to develop the mark, but it matters little. At the end of it all his experiments were discovered by the Lord Third, and Orochimaru had to run for his life. Anko was one of the lucky ones who survived at all in his hidden labs."

"So I got the story of the story of how or why he developed it. But that was not my question." Sasuke insisted.

"Right, right, I'll get around to that. Natural chakra, unlike what we humans have to generate, exists and flows throughout nature. It is everywhere. I won't do a demonstration for you, the meters are delicate and it would offset them, but let me tell you, if you know how to use it, it is a powerful thing. The strength you felt from using the mark is a small fraction of what the real thing can do. But it is something the vast majority of people, even geniuses like Orochimaru, simply have no aptitude for learning."

Anticipating Sasuke before he had a chance to speak, he held up a finger to cut him off.  
"Before you ask it, yes, that number includes you too. I've sensed enough of your chakra to know you have no chance of learning it, it's the wrong sort. Even if that wasn't the case, the mark would interfere. And why? Because the mark is designed specifically to force a chakra system to syphon nature chakra and make use of it for a lessened, meagre boost, without truly understanding how it works. It gives you temporary strength, but wrecks your body in the process. If you survive its injection it the strain alone will shave years off of your life, it channels chakra into your system from the outside you don't feel yourself, it messes with your perceptions and your entire physiology. To master natural chakra, you need fundamental balance, peace and clarity. The curse mark bypasses that, pumps it right into you, even tries to make use of the damaged impulse control and aggression that comes with it. And that's just the start. Mixed in the whole thing there's Orochimaru's own chakra, own jutsu. I've no idea how he did it or what they do, but you can bet it's not for your health."

"Could it take over? Or control me?" Finally, Sasuke voiced his most prominent fear of the mark. He had plenty of time to work and think as the Sannin told his story, think back of the times a sense of dread, anger, frustration caught hold of him, far worse than his most grim of resolutions to acquire power to kill Itachi.

"I doubt that, especially if you make your precautions. But I'll be honest with you, kid." By then the work was done and Jiraiya looked Sasuke right in the eye. Only now did the young Uchiha realize the staggering size difference between them, and that the man hadn't made one of his larger-than-life laughs in too long a time, his face now sour. "What it is, the power it offers, is the perfect bait for the type of person you could become if you don't look out for yourself. Orochimaru made mistakes similar to what you have. Accuse me of seeing my own past in you and Naruto, but if you make too many similar steps, a goal you've set for yourself will become all you have, all you are, and even if you were to achieve it, if you do it the wrong way by that point you will no longer care nor appreciate it. From what Kakashi told me, your goal is a noble one. So was Orochimaru's reach for immortality and knowledge, but he decided to try and reach it the wrong way. Even achieving a measure of it was no help, because he set his eyes on the Sharingan of your brother, and after he failed to possess him, now he has his eyes on you."

"My brother? Did Orochimaru…?" Sasuke couldn't even begin to imagine a confrontations between those two monsters.

"I don't know, but I'd be very surprised if he was good or quick enough to put the curse mark on him. My info says Itachi beat seven kinds of excrement out of him, so instead of a direct attack he's out for the next best thing, namely you." Jiraiya answered and watched Sasuke's fists tighten in frustration. "He slipped from one goal to another then the next, because that's what obsession does to you. Your focus and drive, for any of us who are old enough to recognise what it is, is a danger. Not for what you are out to do right now, but what would become of you the next day after it's done. I'd bet my coat Orochimaru recognised it too, and wants to make use of you before that happens, by offering you the one thing that can buy someone like you."

Sasuke needed some time to think, but there was one more thing he needed to ask.  
"So when he said I will turn for him for power…"

"He was speaking from experience. The goal in front of your eyes gives anyone tunnel-vision, and a promise of power to get to it is one hell of a carrot for anyone to chase. For someone as … driven as you, it is easy enough to figure it would be more so. He did the same himself, and he did not have anyone actively pushing him towards that fate." A voice naturally suited to laughter and boast, now dry and low with regrets for the past and a warning against a possible future, was the closest to genuine fatherly advice Sasuke has gotten in a long, long time. It was enough to help him realise something that had been evading him.

"By turning to the curse mark? Sakura told me that back in the forest of death the Sound trio was sent against us, to get me. …But they wouldn't actually have a chance to get away from the exam, would they? That was the first time I used it, and for days nothing but the feeling of power it gave me was on my mind." He could hear his own heartbeat in his ear as the realisation hit. He understood Kakashi's lesson the other day, but to see how manipulative he was, a toy in someone's hands, made bile rise in his throat.

"And if I'm any judge, these four now were meant to finish the job. I heard them talk about convincing you, though I wasn't sure of what. Now it's a bit clearer. Get you to use the mark again, feel the high of it, crash you right down and then tempt you by promising more. Sounds a bit more like opium salesmen in the capital." The old man, who knew nothing of him, pieced together the same puzzle like it was nothing. For all his determination, Sasuke wondered, was he truly that naive? There was one way to find out, a simple question to ask.

"So he was trying to addict me to power? The only interest I have in power is simply to kill a powerful man, not just to get strong all by itself." He offered, barely believing it himself.

"That's how it typically begins. Warlords are not born with a warcry. But no, I don't think getting you hooked on power was Orochimaru's goal. He is a big fan of the Second Hokage, well, some of his less palatable ideas anyway, and the man wrote extensively about the Sharingan and what such potent chakra in your mind will do to the unwary. What he'd want to do with you is simply convince you that he was the best, the only real source of power you had, all in exchange for taking over of your body. You've gotten the interest of one nasty bastard, kid."

The uncomfortable silence barely had time to creep back into the room when Jiraiya clasped his hands together, regaining his energy and cheer seemingly at will.  
"Well, we got no business sitting around. Chin up, kid. You have someone nasty after you. Most of the people I know do. If you will make it big in this business, you will have a bounty on your head that could buy a small country and a feudal lord's prettiest daughter in marriage."  
The cheerful whacks on his back that would have given an oak some trouble to resist strangely did Sasuke some good. He had it bad. Others did too. He had a man to kill. Nothing changed fundamentally.

* * *

There were few better examples of people having it bad than the prisoner, still strung up, now decorated in ink scripts and symbols in various, foul-, sweet- and plain unnatural-smelling substances which hit Sasuke with their full, combined aroma as Jiraiya and he left the test room.  
Not much else changed inside, besides some of the machines now crackling and buzzing. Kurenai was applying the seemingly last touches of chakra paint, the medic (Shizune?) was checking the prisoner's vital signs and that Anko woman was curiously knocking on the other body covered in a sheet, which produced sounds like it was hard stone.

"The room is secure and I ran the kid through the basics. Some of the no-so-basics too. Everything ready on this end?" Like the conversation inside never happened, the old man was back to the nonchalant half-professional attitude Sasuke saw earlier.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama. The unique physiology of the prisoner Ibiki noted, besides the arms, resulted in some odd reactions at first, but I altered the technique for it. Are you sure it wouldn't be safer if I just went in with him and performed a simpler control technique?" The genjutsu mistress took a long, hard look her work, a slight hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"No, I'd rather let him use that thing in a strictly locked environment. How is Anko?" Jiraiya's question was strange to Sasuke. The old man caring about him was usual enough, everyone always seemed to care for him, for whatever reason. But the way he asked about a subordinate, the Uchiha realised that perhaps just for once, that personal interest wasn't appreciation for heritage, but simple interest the man held for everyone working under him. An odd sensation to say the least.

"Her usual self. Sadly enough." Kurenai let slip the last part. The jounin peaked her head up from her investigation.

"Hey, I heard that! One more word about me and I'll mention the stuff you do whenever you mention that idiot smoking like a chimney. It would embarrass a schoolgirl!" Apparently not too touched by the attention, the creepy woman chimed up with the exact sort of terrifying energy that made any young man shudder.

"Don't bring him into this! And at least _I_ have a decent relationship and don't need to molest everything within five meters of myself!" And there was the response. The visage of the calm, composed woman who lectured the genin that morning cracked just a little bit. Sasuke found himself reminded of the bickering the girls used to have back in the Academy, usually over the dubious honour of being the chief person to bother him for the day.  
Jiriaya looked at Sasuke, contemplating some of the accusations flying around.

"I don't want to know, kid." Sasuke may not have known the man for a long time, and once more his voice was low, seemingly serious, but he could just about spot a hearty laugh hiding in there somewhere.

"Hey, all I did was grab him to bring here and tease him a little bit! What's so wrong with that?" Apparently Sasuke's observation was not restricted to himself, with his kidnapper redirecting some of her anger towards the Sannin, before circling back for the next argument against the other kunoichi.  
It all seemed like a ridiculous cat fight was about to break out right in the middle of a torture chamber, if not for the fourth, mostly silent member of the group finally speaking up.

"Can't we just get on with it?" Shizune asked, with the large, forced smile of someone desperate for a good night's sleep.

"There's an idea!" Jiraiya clasped his hands, his voice booming. "Yuuhi, take a minute, you look like death warmed over. Anko, we'll be needing you too so do the ritual. Run the kid through it too, while you're at it, it ought to help him out. Since you enjoy his company so much, I'll talk with Tsunade to align your off-duty hours with the kid getting free from his training with the other genin, so you can meet up and teach the thing to him properly."

Anko's face fell. Toying with the kid en route was one thing, but actually teaching someone? She'd find some way of getting back at the Sannin, that she vowed.

"What ritual? Is it some jutsu?" Sasuke asked, with a measure of suspicion.

"It's to stabilize your chakra – useful if you have time before you do have to use the curse mark to minimize the impact, lessen the damage afterward, or plain old make sure it's not messing with you. I'm assigning Anko to teach it to you – don't make that face, she's a decent teacher if you learn to handle her properly and don't get in a silly argument like Yuuhi just did. Don't ask her about tea ceremonies, though, she'll be at it for hours."

* * *

What followed was a simple, but tiresome bunch of breath exercises, stretches and chants in a small dojo off in one of the rooms along the corridor. According to Sasuke's new tutor in the arts of what he could only think of as overcomplicated nonsense, this was but the shortest of routines, created specifically to be done before unforeseen engagements where there was time for preparations, but not much.

He discovered with a degree of frustration that being regarded as genius or even possessing the Sharingan hardly helped when learning something fundamentally tied to the mind, not the body or chakra manipulation.

"Come on, kid. I've had my fun at your expense, but this is getting ridiculous! Remember to breathe properly! This is not a bull-rush! You are too young to be that stiff, so try to relax!" The instructions came clearly enough, however they seemed to demand the impossible.

Sasuke grunted as he struggled to assume a position thought up by someone whose spine must have been one of special, likely elastic qualities. He briefly considered the possibility of this being the foundation of the neck-stretching technique of Orochimaru, but the idea gave him little comfort.  
"This is impossible! How could anyone rela – ARGH!"

Anko putting her knee in the small of his back and setting him in the right position, again, did little to help him relax.  
"Are you really telling me I'll have to teach you this thing?"

Sasuke only wished he was still in a position where he could just shoot off a snide remark to put her in her place. Where he was right now, he already learned that it would serve little effect and she would just use the opportunity to torment him more.  
He recalled his frustration at the teachers, everyone at the Academy going out of their ways to be respectful, formal and supportive of him. He could not say that he'd honestly prefer that to this, which at least felt like actual interaction with someone who did not just see a clan crest in his place, but the contrast felt nice. And some respect wouldn't have gone amiss either.

"Right, let's do it once more from the top, then whatever shape you are in, we are going back. It'll be a real joyride trying to get you to loosen up or calm yourself, I can already see that one." The fact that the jounin seemed to possess about the same level of enthusiasm for the exercise gave him little comfort - a word he would now forever associate with impossible and painful poses.

* * *

Joints and muscles aching, but feeling strangely refreshed, Sasuke found the actual tests simple enough, not at all different from what he'd guessed. A few minutes of ensuring Kakashi's data on him was accurate with measured exercises, and Jiraiya gave him the sign to let the walls around the mark down and use it.

With the ink signs on his arm lighting up as he began stressing his chakra system, Sasuke began to try and engage the mark just with his will, without exhaustion or danger. In the weeks since he received the putrid thing, he had to keep it back from offering itself, shutting it off in some distant corner of his mind. To access it now he needed to override that habit, to be once more conscious of the fact that it was there and part of his chakra network. He still was unsure what to make of Jiraiya's point when he raised the issue before starting the tests: was it really better for him to keep it in the forefront of his mind, under scrutiny if he was not going to use it?

He centred himself again. Kakashi's seal, without the right conditions made it damned difficult to willingly access the mark, despite the fact that he was told it was his will that fuelled the seal to begin with. Did he fear the thing enough to unconsciously maintain the technique shutting it off?

He thought back to what it was like to feel it work at first, what made him access it before. Images of Sakura and Naruto hurt, in danger flashed across his mind, with him being every bit as helpless to intervene as he was the night his parents died. That despair in the pit of his stomach, that wish to do anything to change the inevitable, that drive to attain the power he would need to make things right again … he remembered the feeling of it, and followed it through to where he was now.

He winced at the pain in the mark, but resisted the urge to spring back. Grunting, he focused and tore open the wall sealing the mark off, letting the energy flow.  
He opened his eyes, barely registering that he activated his Sharingan instinctively. Flame-like marks crawled across his body, and again he felt that surge of power that made him equal parts want to move mountains, fight anyone stupid enough to challenge him and throw up until his body finally rid itself of the filth infesting it.

Sasuke took control of his breathing, then his movements, resisting the urge to dash and run, or grab one of the weighs and snap the steel bar in half.  
The same workout that pushed him before now seemed far too easy, weighs he'd have had serious trouble lifting felt like twigs. When it came to a few tests of creating and controlling chakra, he found that those too were simple enough, but keeping in mind the explanations earlier, he tried to get a better feel for what the mark itself was doing while providing him with power.  
He could feel no wondrous chakra all around them nor tell where else the power could have come from, just a tide of energy overflowing his body. Using it in a situation without an immediate life-or-death push, it did seem all too good, too easy a route. Just as with his fight the previous day against Naruto, this was another example of his being too predictable, too focused and that being much too useful for anyone to use against him.  
He carried out the last of the tests in quiet, brooding over the flaw he was discovering about his entire modus operandi. He could not allow such weaknesses to be apparent, or all his efforts would be a waste.

Like at the start, powering down took some conscious effort, and he felt the exhaustion hit him every bit as overwhelmingly as the power has before.  
Tired, he joined the others and watched Anko go through a similar set of exercises. She clearly possessed greater strength, speed and stamina than he did for the moment, and such differences carried over when she engaged her own mark for the test. He was unsure whether her self-control was lesser than his or the older design of the mark was more painful (with her personality it could go either way) but her pain was more visible, and she had a harder time keeping it under wraps, by the look of it.  
A glance over Shizune and Kurenai looking over the findings of what must have been the chakra meter, and comparing a similar chart on the pinboard that had to be his own, revealed that the relative boost he received was much greater as well. He wondered just how many must have gotten a similar mark as he did and served under Orochimaru. If he could afford to send four of them after him, if what Jiraiya said was true, then there either had to be enough to waste, he had to have a reliable way to gain more of them easily, or a complete confidence in the abilities in those he sent after him. The Sannin did say they had some way to use the mark that dwarfed his, so that was certainly a possibility.

Watching Anko finish off and end her own transformation, once more with a seemingly greater difficulty than his own disengagement, he felt the rising impatience, eyeing the prisoner. He had already decided not to pursue this branch of power so long as he had more reliable avenues open to him, but all the same he wanted to know how great a jump they would get.  
Inevitably he would have to face one of Orochimaru's men again in one way or another, on a mission or targeted by them anywhere. Certainly one of the most important results of the day for him was that he was about to make it damned sure to step up the defences of his apartment, well over the basics he so far thought would suffice – he has always thought of himself as the hunter, not the prey after all, just one more instance of predictability that almost got him. He would not let go of the goal, but once more, he'd come to face how anyone with a sufficient knowledge of him could predict his actions, play him and get him to do what they wanted. If he was to take down Itachi, he would have to rid himself of that flaw.

As a tired Anko softly swore a blue streak and plopped down the chair by the desk, he watched Kurenai activate her illusions. The prisoner woke up for a second, just enough to regard the covered bodies on the side with horror, eyes darting around in panic at first, then following a hand sign from the genjutsu user, settling and acquiring a strange, hollow quality.

Kurenai took a minute to test her ability to pilot the man via genutsu, moving his fingers and feet as much as the chains allowed.  
Satisfied with the results, Jiraiya and Shizune undid the seals, opened the cage and opened the chains. The prisoner was marched across the room, then into the testing chamber where a few minutes had to be taken as to allow Kurenai a precise enough control via the illusions to make the man do as she commanded.  
The weighs, running, exercises went flawlessly and Sasuke had to admit a growing respect for the woman's ability to do genjutsu when she got her victim to follow precise instructions with chakra control. What really impressed him was her ability to make him engage his mark and run the whole thing again, with a much more high chakra target – he himself couldn't really begin to do anything of the sort, but still recalled a simple trick of hypnotism being one of the abilities boasted by those who awakened their Sharingan and mastered its use, as well as Kakashi pulling off precisely that. This non-dojutsu illusion of Kurenai made the feat look like simple village fair attractions.

It was activating the next level that seemed to make her sweat. It took a few tries, the genjutsu apparently making the mark difficult to engage – or, he thought as he ran through his recollections of genutsu knowledge, perhaps initiating the mark would cause a surge great enough that would risk breaking her hold over him. Finally she found a way to make him ease into the higher level, bit by bit. It was also revealed to Sasuke that the higher form came with a more substantial change than mere marks on your body, and the forced, slow, grotesque change happening on the other side of the glass seemed far from pleasant

"How is this happening?" He couldn't help asking. "How can the mark do that much?"

"The technical details are beyond me, but the physical changes are not done by the mark." Jiraiya joined Sasuke in front of the window, occasionally turning towards one of the machines to confirm findings. "If you get nature chakra in your system you don't know how to use perfectly, it will be the end of you. That statue Anko was knocking on earlier? Used to be a man. Well, maybe two men, depending on how you look at it. " Jiraiya said simply, eyes fixed on the torturous transformation. "Even I don't have complete and perfect control of it, but enough to use it safely. I'd say that as he perfected the mark, Orochimaru happened upon that little problem as the marks began to channel more and more natural energy, enough to overwhelm the poor sods he used for the testing. Don't ask me how, but in some way he must have taken hold of that transformation and made use of it."

"But if it is a consequence of misuse…"

"It doesn't have to be all negative, if you stop it just at the right time. Any tissue overflowing with nature chakra or created by it would be incredibly powerful and resilient, I can vouch for that personally." The old man drew together his eyebrows in focus, keeping his stare at the gruesome sight. "And what's being done in there is far removed from anything mother nature intended."

On cue, the chakra meters began cracking, with the monstrous second stage of the curse mark reaching completion. A third eye appeared on the prisoner's forehead between two new horns, his hair grew and greyed out, the arms grew spikes and his skin darkened to a shade of reddish brown. Sasuke found himself petrified - one did not need sensors and machines to understand what the Sannin referred to.

"For instance" Jiraya added "I am pleased to say that I don't get anywhere near that ugly. And he's still not as bad as Big Guy in the back. How are the readings?"

"Within your expectations, sir." Shizune reported, the sole person more caught up with dealing with the technology than what it recorded.

"Good, good. Now, let's carry out the testing, I won't be happy until he's all chained up aga-"  
Kurenai gave a grunt of effort, and a closer revealed sweat rolling down her face.  
"Drat."

"Something's wrong! I had him under wraps, 'm still holding on, but there's a chakra signature inside. It's interfering with the control!" With a gaze all but impaling the prisoner, the genjutsu specialist began to make hand seals. They were in steady rhythm, continuous, but her face betrayed that she was fighting an uphill battle.

Sasuke stared at the prisoner inside the room. There was no way for him to escape, and there was no way for him to consciously break out of the illusion. He flicked on his Sharingan. There was a flood of chakra visible all over his body, but if he strained his eyes, he could see one section that was different, somehow. Unlike all the other chakra, this seemed muffled, as if…

"There is something inside him!" He yelled, leaning against the window, trying to see the thing more clearly. "A whole other chakra inside him that wasn't there before, or wasn't active when I checked!"

"Talk, brat! Where is it? What is it doing?" Jiraiya again dropped the pretence of the friendly old man, now purely a seasoned commander. "Damn, I knew it was a bad move to send out the Hyuuga for recon duties!"

"It's in his stomach, wait, no it's moving upwards! I think he's retching it up!" Sasuke reported, much too slow to give accurate information but transfixed by the disturbing spectacle.

"The closer that thing gets to his brain, the more likely it will break my hold!" Kurenai warned. By now her hands were a blur, and her own chakra was flaring with activity.

"Shizune, inform security! Anko, secure the exit door! Yuuhi, try to stabilize your control!" Jiraiya boomed all around him.

Before anyone even made a step, though, it happened.  
The prisoner threw up a large, white sack, and regained control of his faculties long enough to pierce it with his claws.  
The sack ripped fully open. Hundreds, thousands of tiny spiders began pouring from it and crawled all over the prisoner and into every other crevice in the room, trying to bite anything in their way. They did not do much harm to the iron equipment, but the bite marks on his skin bore odd discolourations that were not a good sign.

"Damn! I lost control of him! Whatever those things did, it inflicted pain enough or had chakra severe enough to break the hold!" Kurenai grunted again, trying to regain power over the struggling prisoner.

The prisoner broke out in manic laughter. He may have gotten out from the genjutsu, but it was obvious he was not at his senses. He tore at his own skin, banged his head against the walls, screaming and laughing. He crouched down and ate the discarded egg-sack, then performed a hand sign sequence and resumed clawing at himself.

Jiraiya and the rest outside watched for a second too long, unsure if it was just him going raving mad at a security jutsu firing off on its own, or if it was a genuine attack. But after a second, the blood stopped flowing from the self-inflicted wounds. The prisoner writhed, in clear agony and the wounds cracked open wider. His skin rumbled. The first tiny spider to climb out of the wound didn't even have time to shake off the blood as it was pushed by the second right behind it, with the third trying to push its way past that one. Each of his wounds began to crack wider and wider to the sounds of his cries and began to let off even more tiny spiders. For the few seconds he had, plenty enough time for a ninja high on chakra, the man clawed, bit and hurt himself all he could, and from every single rip of his skin, a small army of spiders burst out.

"Is that a summoning?" Shizune asked, terrified.

"What are you still doing here, get backup now!" Jiraiya yelled, sending her off scampering. "We need to stop the spiders! To off that many summons all at once, we'll need something big that covers a large area. Anko, got anything?"

"Not much besides bombs. I go for the more precise stuff. Throwing needles, a few summons, poisons, that sorta thing." She shrugged. "Never had to think what I'd do against a roomful of spiders before."

"Well, I got something to take care of the main threat, but I will need someone to cover my back. If bombs are all you have, use them, I can take it. Brat, Kakashi tells me you can do the Grand Fireball. Is that true?" Jiraiya barked at Sasuke.

"You want to send me in there?" The genin didn't even bother not sounding like he would refuse that command.

"No, that's gonna be my job. I want you to kill all the spiders getting through the hole I am about to make. I'll get in, and the blow will set the little beasts back, but after that they will come in force. I don't know what they can do, but chances are it ain't pretty. Can you kill them?"

"Yes!" Sasuke yelled back.

"That's what I like to hear. Anko, you do your thing with the bombs! Yuuhi, that jutsu took too much out of you. You were right, that was the wrong technique to use. Grab the readings from the meters and get out, secure the outer exit!" The final instructions came from the robust man before everything went to hell.

Sasuke barely had time to react, his Sharingan did most of the work of keeping up. A fraction of a second after Kurenai withdrew, Jiraiya made his move. Sasuke barely took his eye off him for a second while he gave his commands, yet when he looked back at the geezer he looked different: taller, with a goatee, the skin around his eyes tainted red, and his extremities were not quite right. He barely believed his chakra sense or sharingan about the amount of power in the man. This was well beyond even the disturbing transformation he witnessed from the Sound ninja earlier, beyond the power emanating off Orochimaru.

What really caught his eye, though, was the strange way he massed chakra in his hand. Almost like the Chidori, but more clear, less of a jumble of a chakra gathered into a fine point and more of a microcosm of dense movement, almost crystalline if not for the frantic cavalcade of chakra, pure and without element. Slamming it into the high-security door and blowing it off its hinges felt almost like a waste of art.  
Jiraiya followed the wreckage right away, spewing oily flames at the room's now numerous inhabitants and dodging the odd-shaped projectiles the freak seemingly spit up at him, dashing into melee range. Anko and Sasuke did as they were told, trying to take care of as much of the tide of arachnids as they could before there was a real reaction.

* * *

It was five minutes after the first wave of spiders was unleashed.  
It was four minutes twenty seconds after the last of the horrible little creatures was incinerated.

The smell of burnt spider and burnt human fought for dominance over the rooms. Built to be chakra-proof and perfectly capable of resisting, say, a Jounin's flame techniques, Jiraiya's attack managed to melt the windows and walls away nonetheless. Saving the records out of the place beforehand proved a prudent decision indeed.  
Almost as prudent as leaving said room as soon as they made sure the prisoner was dead (encasing yourself in a shell made of metal-esque secretions in the face of an inferno is NOT a good idea), and the other two bodies were safely sealed away.

"I do feel terrible for whoever will have to clean that up." Jiraiya offered as they watched the building from a nearby rooftop, the smoke finding ways here and there to escape. Quietly, to himself, Sasuke felt a measure of smug satisfaction at seeing the damp place feeling like an inbuilt cave be indeed a perfectly clean, modern building from the outside. At least one thing about the day turned out to be properly ninja-like.

"I just hope Tsunade-sama won't make me do it." Shizune observed quietly.

"Same here." Kurenai lit a cigarette. She hated her other half's lung-killing habit, but after what they just gone through a bit of nicotine was most welcome.

"And here." Anko, still giving sideways glances to Kurenai and waving away her smokes, was content to agree.

"…Hm." Sasuke didn't even acknowledge the possibility of that job falling on him. He had better things to think about. The way he's been going, what he could have faced, he could have fallen prey to. And what he still lacked.

"Aww, look at him, he's back to playing the silent boy!" Anko roughed up the boy's hair. "I could just gobble him right up!"

"Good, because I am still making you teach him the rituals. I most certainly am not sticking around for a while." Jiraiya blocked the sun out with his hand to better see the efforts to put out the flames play out. A couple of off-duty chuunin were probably regretting their aptitude or choice of the water element. "Oh, and thanks for helping out, brat. This was a mess, but the info we got out of it was well worth the trouble. Just remember that if you ever tell anyone but those of us involved in it or the Hokage about it, the ANBU will have a field day on your ass. In this profession you really gotta work for dinnertime story material, so if you do make some, treasure 'em. Now what are you waiting for, applause? I already said you did well, so scram!"

The four of them watched as the genin wordlessly hopped off.  
"Not quite as bad a kid as I had feared, honestly." Jiraiya noted.

"Eh, the little blond one in the orange jacket was more fun." Anko gave her own insight. Shizune and Kurenai, both close to people who considered that one close to their heart, remained diplomatically quiet.

"Tell me about it. Actually why don't I tell you? I'm dying for a drink and had my celebration cruelly broken off yest- this morning. You two can come along as well. I promise I won't flirt much."

 **A/N:**

I always thought that the blood portion of the summoning had some creepy implications and potential uses that were never explored. Also for those Farscape fans of you reading, yes, I did absolutely steal that line of Jiraiya's from Zahn. I was re-watching that episode while writing and could not resist.


	8. Splitting the Difference

**Chapter 7 - Splitting the difference  
**

Regret ruled much of the life of Her Ladyship Senju Tsunade, sole, likely last inheritor of her clan. Not that long ago she used to drink, gamble, occasionally fight it all away, to some desolate corner of her mind, always moving from place to place, keeping life too transitory for anything to catch up. That had changed recently, and for the last month, she once more found herself in the grip of all things she wished she could have done differently. Faces she failed to save, duties she did not live up to, all came back to her and there was now nothing to it but dealing with it all.  
It did not fit the Hokage to fear facing a couple of memories, now, did it?

She didn't let any of that interfere with her duties, and dealt with each one by one. She's made her mistakes, dealt the hand she was handed. She may not have always come out ahead, and too often it was not her paying the price, but she would no longer let that intimidate her. There was a job to do, and by the Sage, she was going to do it right - which brought up her one regret as of late, namely emboldening Shizune when the girl stepped up to her. Since that episode, Tsunade found her paperwork consistently arranged into perfectly sensible, but dull and ordinary stacks on her desk in place of the layered, chaotic mess of unknown mystery demands. The 'right' way of doing things, as she discovered, perhaps wasn't the most fun one. At least her stepping up meant more was getting done; these days she could almost see her actual desk.

Organisation creeping into her life was not the cause of regret, however. Rather, it was the curious disappearance of her reserves, stashes, hollowed out bricks and other hidey holes for beverages. Just by themselves they could buy your own private island, they were her last little refuge from the burdens of the job, and bam, they disappear! The faintest sounds of suspicion suggested that perhaps letting the little chit spend an afternoon working with Jiraiya, the hypocritical drunken bastard, resulted in some dangerous exchange of ideas.  
One of these days there would be a reckoning.

She just needed to get done with a whole lot of other tasks first, where, she had to make a face as she admitted, not having distractions probably helped. Most events on the world stage needed her sober almost as badly as they made her want to get drunk. Her recent favourite: a trading port barely within the Land of Fire, yet crucial for the supply of both Konoha and the capital was pressured by pirates. Apparently the Hidden Mist just happened to slip up in its security arrangements and neglected to defend the town, failing to live up to the terms of their well-secured maritime authority, right when Konoha's survival was hanging on a fine balance. Funny how these things happened.

The result was of course Tsunade ending up sending people in, away from regular missions, bearing the brunt of a minor diplomatic incident and saving as many people as she could. Oh, and her efforts to butter up the Feudal Lord for a formal declaration of war against Orochimaru and the Lord sheltering him went up in flames just like the pompous little man's trade fleet, causing him to storm off with little more than the simplest of authorisations of shinobi action and no support. He had people to yell at, evidently.

Well, so did she, except she couldn't afford to. Not only was she stuck in a mire of rebounding and worrisome politics, she had to deal with the messes left behind by Jiraiya, who carried on just like old times. Incidentally T&I were still complaining about the smell of burnt spider everywhere, and nobody can whine quite like a professional torturer.

She stretched and rolled her shoulders. The technique keeping her body young let her forget the toll of time, but sitting in an office and slaving away most of the day bent over bits of paper was breaking the spell just a little bit. Most of the things she did weren't even important business, merely the paperwork needing her authority. Glorious examples included lifting trade embargoes against cleared traders, ending the emergency curfew for civilians (it had them annoyed for the last week or so) and drafting a proposal of amnesty against some enterprising villagers taking up short-lived smuggling operations for suddenly scarce luxury goods.

Where was the political manoeuvring, last desperate stands to save her home in a heroic struggle? If she was saddled with the burden of this much responsibility, the least to expect should have been the occasional bit of fun, right? Instead she became a bureaucrat of all things. Damn Jiraiya and damn the brat for getting her to accept the position!

And speaking of the devil, as she cleared away the latest round of policies, she found two files bearing the names of the village's newest chuunin. She hadn't, since promoting those two given them much thought unless a mission came up where she could have used one of the jounin taken up by the training exercises, her new responsibilities covered too much to follow up on their individual progress. The files at hand were a start on getting a picture.

Oned was decidedly neater than the other. It featured a young boy bearing the expression of a middle aged accountant woken up in the small hours of the morning with a question about cheese production. There was an in-depth description of his abilities, various test scores, analyses of personality flaws and long term development projections complete with a small appendix of a chronology of the Nara's development. For all his rebelliousness years ago, Asuma was his father's son.

Shikamaru seemed to be doing exceptionally well. Both jounin spoke highly of his deductive and planning capabilities as expected, and whatever they did with him seemed to improve most of his abilities across the board. He was now well within the range of what was expected of someone of that rank, and his unique attitude may have made him hard to motivate, but the attention did not get into his head. On paper at least, he seemed ready enough.

As for the other file, well it was Naruto. He could only be recognised by the sheer idiocy of taking a registry photo in a ridiculous make-up that was almost as bad as Jiraiya's own. Tsunade found herself smiling as she opened the folder and sent a note to Shizune to dig someone up to take a photo of the kid properly.  
Kakashi's records on the brat were... less exemplary than those of Asuma. He did record the details of Naruto's past and present capabilities faithfully and well. He traced and discussed his advancement with control and jutsu, weapon handling and the number of subjects, even went into a detailed examination of the boy's best aptitudes, giving due praise where deserved and being merciless in pointing out weak areas.

The problem was that he seemed to refuse to make any projections or real conclusions, preferring instead to finish his updates with a big vague 'it's all up to him'.  
It was nice to see some sentimentality from someone in the past known for his cold efficiency but right now Tsunade would have preferred to know something more solid.  
And, she sighed, she knew damn well that even if Kakashi penned a clearer file, it wouldn't be enough.

The time she could give was up. Even Asuma's notes were just paper, and she needed to see for herself the progress made, know the result that could mean difference between life and death, failure or success. She adjusted a few plans, preferring a personal touch. The fact that it could also get her out of the dreary office for a day was purely coincidental.

She sent off another chuunin with two messages.  
Kakashi and Asuma wouldn't be too happy this time either.

* * *

"Sir, yes, sir!" The rackety wooden walls of the building shook with the enthusiastic shout, their cracks shaking dusty beams of light. Naruto grimaced as he took the full brunt of the spirited bellowing of the genin in green.

Perhaps being locked in a shack with the genin he was to lead was less mundane a detail than he thought. Here he was, worrying what sort of test Granny had thought up for them to see if they are ready, but a simpler issue of handling someone's high spirits came up. And silly as it was, seeing the over-the-top genin perform a full salute as he entered, the kind no one really bothered with even for the jounin, brought home the reality of his promotion, the prospect of people possibly starting to treat him differently from now on - and it didn't even take half a second for him to make the decision he wouldn't stand for that.  
He finally, finally has made some real bonds of friendship, and he would not let that change at the donning of a chuunin's vest.

"Y'know, you really don't need to do that, Eyebrows." He scratched his temple nervously, looking at the other members of the team. He wouldn't let things get weird, but he really was going to take these people out on a test, and soon enough, on missions.

"Sir, yes si-" Noticing nothing of Naruto's thoughts, Lee happily went on with the formal treatment for the recently promoted, surely youthful and excellent officer, the one who beat his rival and gave him too hope for doing so.

"Eyebrows!" Naruto, seeing he wasn't quite getting through to the genin, did his best to apply the tips passed on by Sensei for basic commanding discipline. Maybe behaving like a chuunin in a normal situation to get across the message not to treat him differently was a bit strange, but with Lee, there was little use trying anything else.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun!" Lee dropped the salute, but remained every bit as abuzz as before."To answer your question, yes I am all right. More than all right! Please, don't make us wait any longer, I want to know what trials are ahead for us!" The rest may not have shared his energy, but every one of them looked up with an expectation that made Naruto even more awkward than before.

"Eh, I don't actually know, guys." He admitted, to a mild groan from some of his troops. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I barely had time to meet with Shikamaru to sort out who gets who, and had to come here to be locked up, same as you."

"Hm. And how did you sort us out?" Sasuke spoke his first words since settling down, arms folded. There didn't seem to be that angry edge to his voice that Naruto spotted ever since the Exams, he seemed calmer, although with a guy like him that was pretty relative however you put it.

"We agreed we'd both have our original teams. The others, well..." He laughed again. It was hardly as if he knew what to pick people for, and didn't want to haggle with the genin after all. "... actually we picked names from a hat."

Yep, that ensured none of the others would try treating him like a super serious officer. So far, so good, and thinking about the team he got, he had to admit his usual luck was on his side. Team Seven was what it always was, a bit rocky, and both Sasuke and Sakura bore signs of heavy training, especially the pink haired kunoichi who looked like she hasn't had a good night sleep in ages. Despite such signs of being worn out, he knew he could trust his team to hold up in just about any situation, and the others were a great addition as well.  
He hasn't had a chance to talk with Lee during the month of training, but it was nice to see him back on his feet, itching to get into action. He didn't know much about his teammate Tenten, but if someone can lob around that many weapons, they ought to be a good ninja. Finally he was also lucky to have pulled Hinata's name from the hat, he considered, while looking at the now familiar figure, the usual posture of the girl. After that much of an effort to train together, ending up in opposing teams would have been, well, wrong.

It was funny how much he'd come to rely on her help with the training. Several hours' worth of different subjects absorbed from each clone made a mess of his perception of time and especially early on was very difficult to organize and make sense of what he now knew in the cavalcade of memories. Sensei's explanations, once he got used to delivering ideas to him in the right way were actually interesting, but it was with her that the still puzzling and near-incomprehensible estimations and quick calculations of trajectories and movements, evidently obvious for someone like Kakashi-sensei, were translated into movements and gut feelings through practice.

Finishing each day off by training with her helped him coalesce what he learned into tangible and real, lived movements. He found somehow he could be honest with her, ask embarrassingly simple questions he wouldn't have dared from Kakashi, and if it was something she didn't know either, her help let him put it in a more coherent form. Despite her quiet temper, she was still an amazing martial artist and to go up against her one on one, without relying on clones or other techniques still took active integration of anything new he'd learned into his fighting style, reworking it day by day to become more fluid and connected, combat moves to general movement, or the basics of scouting she'd learned from her sensei.

Where would he have been without that help? He probably didn't want to know, which only made him more determined to find things he could repay her kindness with. It's hardly as if she had any obligation to him to keep on training, other than the weird, but fun friendship they struck up since the Exams. All he could do was work away on the Shadow Clones and the to her, evidently bizarre amount of chakra use, wrecking his brain to try and come up with explanations as fun, clear as simple as she'd offered when it came to less robust quantities.

The past month was one hell of an experience. The clones put him under a great strain - maybe if he just focused on a single subject it'd have been a different story, but spread out, it was a lot to absorb even with Hinata's help, and as he quickly discovered, there was much ground to cover. Unlike the Academy's uniform grey flurry going right past him and teachers preferring to pretend he wasn't even there, the jounin expected him to ask questions and placed demand after heavy demand, which Naruto, if he was honest with himself, was astounded that after a lot of hard work he could actually meet.

Okay, maybe most of the work he had to do was not earth-shattering new jutsu but making sure he had all it took to begin leading a team, and most of the instruction focused on the right use of what he had, not the hoarding of techniques. Even his joy at possessing the Rasengan dented a little as with the lessons he realised the technique was slow if he had to rely on a clone, leaving him almost without his biggest ace.  
Well, with the elemental training and chakra control, plus ridiculous amounts of practice, there was _that_. And _that._ But would they be enough?

His musing was disturbed by his sensei's arrival. Perhaps a sign of how much time he spent with the man, Naruto did not find himself too surprised he entered without ever opening the door; for all his tendency to be late, he highly effective way to get about if he needed to. Without a single word spoken, he took out an hourglass from one of his pockets, turned it upside down and placed it on a shelf before turning to the junior ninja.

"Kakashi sensei! Please tell us what is in store!" Maybe it was to the surprise of the other two members of Team Seven, but the one to interrupt Kakashi before he had a chance to get into the explanation of their task was not Naruto, but Lee, once more eager to get on with it. Looking at his master's rival with stars in his eyes an bursting with energy, he went ahead of himself.

The jounin ignored the genin much the same way as he occasionally dismissed Gai, but instead placed an expectant look on Naruto. The chuunin understood the gesture, and grabbed Lee by his shoulders, dragged him back.

"Sorry 'bout that, Eyebrows, but we're supposed to be serious now." He said with a shrug, not noticing Tenten's expression at the relative ease he dragged back an exuberant taijutsu user. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the chuunin, who then added. "And you shouldn't be doing that sort of thing, it undermines missions."

"Ah. I understand, Naruto-kun." Lee bowed in apology. Before Naruto could let up, he looked up, however, once more with fire in his eyes. "So then, Naruto-kun, what is my penance?"

"Your penance?" Naruto found himself looking to Kakashi. There was no help coming from him, he clearly dropped his wish to get on with the briefing, and watched him with an air of amusement. "Oh, you mean for the disturbance! I've done much worse than that, Eyebrows, don't swea-" He trailed off, watching the genin's face crumple with dissatisfaction, then reconsidered. "... on the other hand, a lesson couldn't hurt?"

"Yes, sir!" Lee sprung back up, visibly relieved.

"Well then I guess you have to do fifty..." he kept an eye on the genin's expressions, trying to make sense of what he could tell from the boy's body language " ...I mean fifteen hundred push-ups?" He finally finished, happy to see the genin's face relax as Lee broke into a set of blurred, incredibly fast push-ups right there on the floor.

Sensei was right. He could learn all the jutsu he wanted, but actually being a unit leader took more than that. He couldn't be selfish and go with how he wanted things - although barring the odd exceptions like Lee, he was damned if he was going to play the ridiculous commander thing up too much. Not even that bastard Sasuke deserved that, fun as the prospect was, and the joke would get old quick.  
"Sorry sens-, er, I mean jounin. You were saying?" Naruto looked at his teacher, trying to sound certain in what he was doing.

"I was about to give you all congratulations on the training, and encourage you to take our first steps as commander, Naruto. I am glad to see you made the first one on your own." He indicated the hourglass on the shelf, a small heap of sand already gathering in the time Naruto has been dealing with Lee. "And since time is of the essence, let me brief you quickly, then you can get on with planning."

* * *

It has been but a few minutes later, and with everyone milling over the situation, Naruto found himself pacing with thought.  
He knew what he had to achieve, and even a couple of ways of doing it. His own repertoire offered a few possibilities.

Rushing in with hundreds of clones could have have done the job, or, following the endless training and advice, demonstration and being chased around by a pack of ninja hounds for failed attempts, a summoning of his own came to mind. Thanks to his new training methods and a sense of scales involved, he was making progress, almost getting to a level where he could reliably summon toads large and experienced enough to be of use in a fight - but the technique hung in a very tight balance. Overloading didn't work either, as he learned on a training session where he'd had enough, and channelled more of his regular chakra into a single technique than he's ever done before. The results were, well, mixed. He had in mind calling forth Gama and maybe trying to get him to let him ride around on him for a bit like Jiraiya, but that wasn't quite what he got – he toad that did arrive was a giant the size of Gamabunta who dropped his equally huge sasumata pole-arm and ruined a large section of the hedge, muttered a booming apology about his clumsiness and scared the hell out of Asuma and Shikamaru in the other corner of the field.

Relying on masses of clones, or if he could do it again, solving his problem with a few hundred tons of amphibian would have been fun, but Naruto was annoyed to realise it wasn't really the right way of doing it. Winning was winning, but right now he was expected to show he was a chuunin, that he could lead, not just summon or make copies of himself.

He frowned, twiddled his thumbs, went back to planning. His opponent was a million times better at it, he knew well by now, and probably had him figured out. There were a few things he didn't know, and thanks to Sensei Naruto kept quiet about them, but when it came down to it he'd have to rely on the team he was commanding, just like the test demanded.

This was not a one-on-one fight, but a team match and a battle of wits. Naruto hated to admit it, but that placed the advantage squarely with his enemy. So how could he be beaten? By leading his people better than Shikamaru did his. The individual abilities of the captain did not matter nearly as much as ability to handle people, the team and the job they were here to do.

The mission was simple enough; after Hinata's quietly muttered but persistent and surprisingly effective insistence he's read some of the Academy's required material, he recognised it as a textbook case. One team was to carry a familiar looking scroll through the Forest of Death, from an entry point unknown to the other team, to a known destination. The other team was to prevent that, to find and hunt down the couriers, or deny them passage for long enough a time.  
And sadly, the decision who was which team was not up to luck, but a simple decision of the jounin and Granny wanting to see how the new chuunin would act out of their element.

Had they been the hunter team, Naruto could have relied on Hinata to spot enemies and have Team Seven, aided by Lee and Tenten take them down. Instead, now it was up to him to get the team and the scroll through. Preferably without engagements, because the guy in charge of the enemy team would have twenty different plans for that.

Naruto groaned, turned in his pacing and finally spoke up towards the team. He knew it would take a lot of planning, and it did not take much to realise that endless lessons from Sensei or no, he'd be an even bigger idiot than people thought he was if he didn't rely on his team for ideas. He had to get them started, but... there was a familiar feel to the apprehension, a fear of things going wrong mixed with giddiness that he knew, but couldn't quite remember from where.  
Still, it did not fit a Chuunin to fear facing a mission, now, did it?  
"He's got time to prepare, and he knows where we are going, so we can't just sneak by. If his team catches ours, we'll be in a bad spot. Anyone feeling bright?"

"Fight them and show them our youthful vigo-" Lee being the first to speak up once more was hardly surprising.

"We could just run for it." Tenten suggested, and Naruto counted himself lucky not to see Lee's expression, busy pinning a map of the forest to the wall. "Get around them, and away without needing to fight at all."

Only paying half-attention to a back-and-forth that seemed almost routine, Naruto had a moment to think. Leadership, he was discovering, was a lot more complicated than the images that rushed to his head while trying on his flak vest for the first time. He remembered when _he_ was the one to leave people, say, Kakashi-sensei with a shaking head by being excited, rushing into things like it was last month. Because it was last month. And damn it, he still wanted to just the same, but he had to get this right.

* * *

The last few weeks might as well have been an excerpt from some of the more modest fantasies Hinata has entertained over the years. They had been training together, he was determined to help her master the Shadow Clone technique, and perhaps more importantly, he seemed to enjoy her company almost as much as she did his. She could almost forget about her shortcomings, like the things she still wasn't ready to ask or say, or the time she fainted after a draining session and his offer to have some ramen together. But missteps like that aside, the past month has been one of the happiest she ever recalled.

Yet as she knew all too well, a blissful time like that couldn't last forever. Before she knew it the final days were up, and now here she was, lucky to just be on the same team as him. But she did not waste that precious gift of being at his side, even on borrowed time. They trained, really trained as hard as they could to make themselves and each other stronger, and she could feel that she was making the next steps ahead, faster than before, reforging herself both in body and spirit.

Sparring with Naruto-kun, someone so close to her heart without any of the negativity or the feeling of walls closing in on her made all the difference in the world. After their sessions, even as inevitably her stamina would give before he really started tiring himself out, for a wonderful few brief moments she felt like there was nothing in the world she couldn't do.

As she watched him take charge now, like always she admired the way his sheer energy lit the room and took hold of the entire discussion, more focused than she's ever seen him before, but she didn't stop at just that. She too needed to take hold, and if things went well, ask him to continue on training together as their missions allowed. She was no stranger to determination, and a short term goal, seemingly simple for anyone not as terrified of making a mess of things as she was,was just what she felt she needed.  
But for now, she was simply enjoying the feeling of pride she took in Naruto as he commanded the planning, the grains of sand pouring down in the hourglass with their usual incredible speed at times like this.

In short, to others it might have seemed like Hinata was quietly observing like always, but now there was less of an inability to speak out, and more a wish to just observe. And in all fairness, she also really, really did not want to involve herself with the current discussion between the other kunoichi present.

"...I am telling you" Sakura-san seemed to have shed some of her usual manners, as well as most signs of her fatigue as she continued her disagreement with Tenten. "They will see us that way. We could be spotted, in which case we either go back to the forest anyway, or are stuck between the trees and the fence."

"It may sound risky, but you don't know how most people think. The mission is to take the scroll through the forest, so that is what they will be guarding." Confident, Tenten turned to her teammate. "Lee, remember that mission to Iwa, for that mining company? They never expected us to find another way in there either, even though they were shinobi, more experienced than any of us here."

"Yes! That day Gai-sensei truly demonstrated that a true warrior not just mighty, but indeed also wise!" Talk of evasion dampened Lee's spirits visibly, but all it took was a reminder of a lesson by his mentor to have him fired up again. Naruto, for his part, listened, more serious than Hinata has ever recalled him, with an air about him almost reminiscent of Kurenai-sensei when she briefed Team Eight on missions. Feeling the dreaded blush come up, Hinata again had to stop herself from slipping off into a fantasy of going on missions with just the two of them. That'd be worth every bit of making herself at ease with confrontation or combat... but right now she had better, or at least more immediately important things to worry about.

"My point is that people get a task, and they focus on it so much that the obvious gets by them. So what do they do? The place is too large and the groups are too small to effectively patrol it, so they will try to prepare traps for us to avoid and as we go, end up in some big ambush. We should just get around by the perimeter. They either won't think to defend it or will have to prioritize the other areas and it will be the easiest to breach." Tenten smiled with satisfaction at a successful lecture directed at the younger genin.

The pink haired kunoichi's reply about Shikamaru expecting their move flew by Hinata's ears as she thought about the forest. She had long fought to shed, or at least control her meekness, but her efforts have always been dampened by a crippling fear of being seen as arrogant. Yet, she had to admit, she'd have to step forth now, because while all these people were excellent combatants, just like she wanted to be, they did not get the gruelling training on the poisons and the ways in which a good scout team could take advantage of their environment to take care of enemies for them.

"So, they will have the forest trapped, and likely expect us to get around, then?" Naruto summed up, stepping in while Sakura and Tenten caught their breath. "Maybe we would just dig our way under- ahaha, sorry, just kidding." He laughed, shooing away the two outspoken kunoichi's brief truce as they both glared at him, probably contemplating where insubordination began. "If he would expect us to go around, wouldn't it be a better idea to brave the traps after all?" He added, again more seriously, and Hinata, nervously twiddling her fingers, knew it was time for her to come in.

"Um, I don't think that would be such a good idea, Naruto-kun." She offered hesitantly, finally breaking her silence. "M-my team used traps in the second phase of the exams, and I think the other team might be using similar ones now. It was Shino's idea and Kiba set up most of it, so they will definitely suggest using them, I think. The traps we used had giant leeches... um, i-it would be very bad if anyone got caught in them." She shuddered. The memory of the traps, and far more seeing them in action, came with some nasty recollections.

"If we go that route, can you spot them?" Instinctively, perhaps getting more into the leadership role, Naruto felt like he had to cheer her up. Sometimes, he thought he had Hinata figured out, he could just look into her eyes and feel like he had an understanding of something, but on other occasions like now, she was every bit as much the dark, weird and incomprehensible person who offered to helped him in the Exams, who cheered him up with just the right words when it came to his fight with Neji. Even more weird was, he considered, that he didn't really mind that. It was fun, as was watching her brighten up when he spoke.

"I think so." She still pushed her fingers together, still quiet, but clearer than anyone who shared a class with her at the Academy remembered.

"Good. I'll be counting on you, Hinata!" Naruto announced with a grin that made Hinata blush, inspired two raised eyebrows from Sakura and Tenten and fanned Lee's Flames of Youth with assurance that his leader was one who knew the importance of camaraderie.

Then the moment passed and the disagreement re-surfaced, with Naruto's attention diverted for a bit.  
"It'd still be better to get around in a way they didn't think of." Tenten's tone was patient but still sure of itself. "Or even if they did, one they would have to prioritize lower than any other routes we'd take. Think up all the plans you want, but making them happen is a different story, there's bound to be mistakes to exploit. Even if Neji warns him, he'd still need to prepare the paths and set up choke points." She turned around, facing the sole silent member of the team. "And speaking of Neji, I was under the impression that you were the best genin of your year. Neji would have come up with something by now, so you better stop brooding and say something too, Uchiha!"

Not even Sakura voiced an immediate reply. Still sitting all but motionless, Sasuke stared down the weapon user.  
"I agree with Lee." He finally said. "If a confrontation is inevitable, let us fight and beat them. After we have eliminated the enemy, we can proceed unopposed."

"Sasuke-san! I knew that even you had the Flames of Youth in your heart! I will challenge you to a celebratory duel once this trial is done!" Lee's happy declaration finally broke Sasuke's stone face, with the smallest hint of a smile.

The tension gone with Lee and the girls again at it, Naruto couldn't help but have enjoy himself. Trying to fish out useful ideas, being in the middle of it all, trying to keep the talk going and on topic (well okay, that part was less fun), towards a solution was a bit alien to Naruto by nature, but he had to admit they'd need it.  
He was not by any means a tactician, no matter how many lessons Kakashi-sensei gave him, nor would he ever become that. But being here in company, trying to figure out how to solve a problem together, debating ideas, negotiating between people and making sure they work alongside one another, there was a fulfilment in that that he hasn't really felt before, not with his team under Kakashi-sensei, not even when it was just him and someone else getting along. Those were personal experiences, something to treasure for himself, but now he was feeling a common purpose take them all in. This was something _fun_!

That simple joy also connected what this planning felt like. It had more people, more ideas flying about, but the same anticipation, the same energy and tension in the room as he felt when he was thinking up a way of sneaking past seasoned veterans and pulling off some prank that would have half the ANBU chase him around for hours afterwards. And if he could do that, he could pull a trick under the nose of one of his fellow rookies, never mind the rank, never mind the brains.  
Just like that time he managed to get itching powder in the visiting Feudal Lord's kimono, it was all about diversion, timing and giving the enemy precisely what he wanted.

"Guys? I think I got it." He was sure, and instinctively made use of the lectures on a commander's tone an behaviour. The argument subsided as they all looked at him, with even Kakashi-sensei showing curiosity. For a fraction of a moment he savoured it, then continued with his explanation. "Shikamaru has probably thought up a bunch of ways how to use his team to take us out, right? He will get us to fight his team whatever we do. And whichever way we go, he probably has a plan for it. So let's give him what he wants!"

Naruto resumed his pace, followed by everyone's gaze, with new energy and excitement.

"But we'll do it our way. We'll split up. One group will go the long way around, by the fence..."

"They will notice them!" Sakura burst out.

"Yep, they sure will!" Naruto nodded in agreement, turning sharply with energy. " You can probably come up with something real smart and fool seasoned people, I mean that's what I did when I got past the- ahem. I mean it can work sometimes, but not against a guy like Shikamaru. We'll need to work out a signal of some sort, but it will work!" Naruto's glee was visible even on his back as he made his next pass. "We've had some spars, and I'm pretty sure by now Shikamaru knows how I fight better than I do. He will expect a trick at first. He can't not send someone, but he will have to keep his best shot for later. And that's why we gotta time it right. "

He didn't need to get anyone's attention as he made his next turn in the shed, practically wearing out the floor.

"'Cause that tells the other team to dash for it the other way around! It's not like that game he showed me, it's not turns but a bunch of stuff happening all at once, jumbled up! If we can get him to split up his own team too we beat him, and if he doesn't, at least one team will make it through." He rubbed his hands with anticipation, staring at the map. "And if he just goes half and half, I got an idea a the third team too!"

Naruto observed the following silence and four suspicious pairs of eyes looking at him. Hinata also seemed busy with that odd smile of hers that came out rarely during their spars, but at least that was something nice. As for the rest, he tried a small dressing down.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! Do you know how much Kakashi-sensei drilled me on the whole tactics thing? I still think it's stupid and you should just go in and smack the bad guys in the face, but I _can_ do it, so there!"  
Through some effort he prevented himself from sticking his tongue out at them. He was an officer now; there were things that were just not done.

"And how do we get the scroll to the other side?" Sakura, the most academically iclined in the group was the first to recover from the surprise and speak out, happier to think about the plan than speculate what the hell sort of training he must have gotten from Sensei. "There's only one, and you're splitting us up, so one team does have to be the key, right?"

An evil expression crept across Naruto's face.  
"Oho, you see, that is where my genius lies."

It was at this point that a brief telepathic link established itself between Sasuke and Sakura.  
There could have been a great many reasons for this. A few months of being on Team 7, the dangerous situations they have fought through together, and of course there was the matter of her very, very overt feelings for him as well as his grudging tolerance for her presence, admission of her skills and occasional protectiveness of her. This, however had nothing to do with any of that.

The bond was more primal and shared not feelings or ideas, merely an understanding encapsulated in barely a word.  
It went 'Uh-oh.'

* * *

 _Some time later._

* * *

The forest was almost never quiet. Despite the dangers offered by this one compared to most other local woods, here too the more ordinary sort of life was the majority by a long shot. Birds sung, all manner of small rodents scurried about and occasionally one or two was caught by a bird of prey. Bugs buzzed and some of the less natural and more nightmare-inducing creatures active at daytime made their own noises and calls that made you really wish you never heard them. Trees creaked in the wind, their leaves brushing against each other and so on; to an active listener the quiet of the forest might as well have been an orchestra.

If anything, the small band of humans invading into this segment of the forest distinguished themselves by being much too quiet. Their steps too light for it to be a mere trick of physics and anatomy, they were soundless as they messed around with bits of metal and paper that any animals will have learned by now never to approach, with the sole exception being calls of their own directed at each other.

"So what was it that you were saying on the meeting again? 'Ooh, they won't think we'll have the genius of 'going around', not at all! It doesn't matter if I had a teammate who could suggest the same idea, my suggestion is so clever I can barely believe it'. It's almost as good an idea as when I kept using the same obviously useless attack against an opponent with the perfect defense against it." Vitriol flew in the air, from a person much too smug for someone squatting and trying to be quiet.

Tenten was typically a tolerant, patient, sensible girl. She had to be on her team. But she quickly found that it may have increased her resistance to the type of energetic shenanigans of her sensei, Lee or Naruto, but it did little to make it easier dealing with the pink-haired kunoichi's barbs for the last half hour. Not only did she have no clue what she did to earn her enmity, but she found her own patience slowly draining away, not the best thing to happen to you while dismantling explosive traps.

The squad of disguised Narutos following them seemed to have developed a sense of tact, diplomacy or self-preservation at least, because they contended themselves with keeping watch and remaining uninvolved in the argument. Since it was their original's decision that landed the girls in the same unit, they felt the need to lay low, for all the practical sense it made.

"As I recall you too were completely outplayed in your preliminaries match and barely managed a mutual KO. And you know damn well what I meant when I suggested going around. Did we run into resistance while working? No, because this is the least protected area, just like I told you. No one said it would be easy." She hissed back, hoping to remind her greenhorn companion that this was the supposedly stealthy segment of their mission.

"'We could just run for it', remember? Try running for it and see if you still have your legs in five minutes." The girl pointed at the hastily hidden contraptions on the path and all around them.

"You know damn well what we are doing and you _could_ run through the whole section no trouble. Provided you are not greener than the forest, of course, and could make the most basic stealth precautions. Like not stepping on that twig back there or smelling like a flower shop to try and impress Uchiha. The perimeter, like I said, was mostly clear, and if you didn't smell like that, we wouldn't have had to worry about the wind changing direction OR get into the forest deeper!"

Sakura went red with anger, and Tenten, to her shame, had to admit it was nice to make her sweat a bit. She showed senior genin some proper respect in her first year and saw precisely what happened to those who did not. By comparison, she was being gentle as a lamb. And she certainly had her own lecture from Gai-sensei about fineries when she got an idea to her head.

"I didn't actually step on it, you know that! And you are one to talk about stealth, you are the one who sneezed!" Persistent and annoying if nothing else, the pink haired genin kept at it, as if they had differences greater than just a minor disagreement over what to do in a mock mission.

"I was handling the powders for the tag!" Tenten had to stop her eye from twitching slightly. "Maybe if your Sensei taught you beyond the _basic_ Academy explosive tag handling I wouldn't have to do that whole task alone!"

"Well the basics were enough for all the rest! And bringing Sensei into this, are you?" The Sakura girl seemed to fire up. "Well fine, I did not start that. Kakashi-sensei might not be perfect, but at least he's not a weirdo who wears that … thing yours does. Plus, he's far stronger." She added, with smug satisfaction in her voice.

"Nonsense." Tenten gave up and bickered right back. They were getting into territory that was objectively wrong, for all her master's faults. "Gai-sensei may be a bit, well, erratic, but he is strong without needing any special gifts. Plus he is a better teacher."

"Really now? What did he teach you that was so huge?" Sakura went for the kill, dreading the suspicion lurking in the back of her mind that Tenten might just ask this very same question any moment. It was better to be on the offensive, she decided. "You've been studying under him a year longer than Kakashi-sensei had us, and even Naruto beat Neji, and neither of them are anywhere near Sasuke-kun's level." That was better, she thought as she delivered the blow that would surely end the argument.

While the clone squad briefly considered whether that comment was insubordination, Tenten broke into a smug smile of her own.  
"Oh, you want to see something huge I picked up from Gai-sensei, do you? It's about time we flare up the signal, and with that I can certainly indulge you."

* * *

 _A few terrifying minutes later._

* * *

"There, that should do it. We got a few minutes to get out, but hurry if you don't want your backside roasted." Tenten stated happily, the work all but having taken the anger of the previous conversation.

Sakura on the other hand was finding it much harder to let go of their earlier disagreement, albeit not for spite. The reason had more to do with a dawning fear, not unlike that which comes after the brief fun of poking a hornets' nest.

She was convinced that she has seen the most ridiculous display of explosive enthusiasm for things that go 'boom' the day Sasuke-kun left the hospital and Naruto was promoted, but now she realised an update was in order. She still had her bone to pick with the tool user kunoichi and would not let a display like that thwart her ambitions of showing Tenten who she was messing with, but she did find herself intimidated. The warm, fulfilled and almost trance-like happiness on her face as Tenten worked away and primed exploding tag after exploding tag, all placed in some formation that she claimed would yield the best effectiveness possible, even going as far as manually overloading a few of them was some frightening stuff.

"Are you really sure we'll need it? I'm pretty certain all Naruto wanted was to have us set off a few traps to get the other team's attention and signal. I, uh, get it, Gai-sensei sure taught you something dangerous, but isn't that too dangerous? We could always try just sneaking around like you said, right?" She tried a sociable little laugh to ease the tension of her senior. She was reminded of Kurenai-sensei's lessons of making your move only you've correctly read your opponent, and realised the way she may have made a mistake or two in how she approached the kunoichi.

Tenten shrugged happily as the two of them set off as hastily as stealth allowed.  
"Sure, but that would not be as much fun. He did say we should disable any traps we find and use them up. I'm taking some liberties with interpretation, but will you snitch on me about that? Didn't think so. And it's not my fault the guys who put these down did such a sloppy job of it and used too many. The least they deserve is a nice wake-up call made of their own stuff."

"I'm pretty sure you used up our supply as well, not just what we picked up." Slighly shaky in voice, Sakura couldn't resist talking back. At this point, did it make any difference? "And wouldn't it have been better to just use them to set up an ambush? This is just wasteful."

"Explosions are never wasteful! Besides they will be expecting an ambush, so they will be keeping an eye on everything, jumping at every noise. I get the full psychological benefit of an ambush without having to set one up, AND I get to have some neat fireworks."

With a final leap they made it out of Sakura's best estimation of the blast radius. Besides having to worry about the wind, the small incursion into the forest proper let them make sure they did not accidentally blast the fence wide open as well as allowed Tenten to gather up more of the explosive type of traps their foes set. With quiet terror, Sakura was just happy Hinata quickly briefed them on the specifics of the nastier traps using... live ammunition, and how best to spot them. Thanks to a few close calls not even Tenten proved crazy enough to touch those - it's hardly as if they could add much of what she was looking for.  
The final product would be quite something, Sakura had to admit. Would they get into trouble if they accidentally started a forest fire? It was probably too late to worry.

Tenten focused on the countdown under her breath and dropped their discussion, awaiting the explosion with gusto.  
Sakura sought some cover behind a tree.

"…Aaand here we go! On three!"  
"Two!"  
"One!"  
…

…

…

Sakura opened one eye.  
"What's going on? Did you mess the timing up?"

"I don't make those sorts of mistakes." Tenten looked annoyed.

"Indeed. I can confirm that the charge was set up perfectly in the explosive tag formation."  
The voice came from within a nearby tree trunk, its cracks now pouring out a swarm of bugs and a so far hidden occupant stepped out from a hollow, dusting himself off lightly.  
"The detonation you have been expecting did not occur. Why? Because my allies could disable the tags and the chakra therein with ease. It was clear that such a signal was important for your plan of action, therefore its foiling desirable for our success."

Sakura was certain she did not blink. There did not seem to be any real transition between her temporary teammate anticipating the explosion with joy and the furious hurling of kunai, pins, shuriken, a sword or two, several scythes and a number of items she couldn't identify at the enemy, who after the first few impacts exploded into a small swarm again.

She could feel a few fragments of the tree she was leaning against a fraction of a second ago hit her as a swirling mess of human and canine slammed into it. More than ever she was grateful to Kurenai-sensei's alertness training and, she had to admit, for Gai-sensei's slave-driving during training sessions. She tried throwing a small incapacitating gas bomb at her attackers (Tenten had confiscated anything she had for the big boom that never happened) and swung to the side, kunai at hand.  
Tenten was still emptying her shuriken holster at her foe who was now dancing around the vertical rain of metal, shooting back some of his own and trying to send his insect army around the kunoichi's defences.

Perhaps it was the best teamwork they could do at the moment, both girls considered, to split up. Tenten drove her opponent, guiding steps with ranged weaponry away from the other fight.

"You messed up my explosion! Do you know how hard it is to set one that size up properly?" If anything, Tenten was glad she could finally unload on someone.

"I do not. I can however estimate it as somewhat less difficult than attempting to fortify an entire forest. Finding the fruits of one's labour circumvented and disabled is a source of irritation that you might not have considered." The cool of Aburame Shino was undisturbed despite the battle and a continuous series of dodges, betraying nary a hint of emotion.

"Estimate THIS!" Tenten stopped with her ranged assault and moved in closer, a morningstar in one hand and a small dagger in another. She swung hard at the insect user, but he dodged out of the heavy mace's way and let it embed itself into the tree he stood on, barely managing to parry her dagger with a kunai as he hopped away. Swearing, Tenten abandoned the heavy weapon and threw the dagger after the Aburame in vain, if only to buy time and summon her best pole arm from its scroll.

She was in a tough spot and no mistake. The sudden rush to melee range, relying on a surprise factor was now gone and he was holding his own ranged. Not only was it devilishly difficult to hit him, every time she thought she's finally done it the body turned out to be a decoy formed by bugs, and every time she paid dearly for the mistake. Yet move in closer again, and he has a far easier time setting those bugs on her, and however she seemed to move, he was ready, turning her own movements against her. She could smell Gai-sensei's handiwork there, rough and unfinished, but present - but very different to how he moved at range. That discrepancy was a crack in his exoskeleton, and she hoped she go just the right tool to work it.

Naruto's clones moved in against Shino, figuring they would have more of a chance against someone focusing on range over a close combat specialist. Attempting to flank the constantly moving insect user was hard, however, with Tenten's onslaught resulting in plenty of stray weapons. To boot, she did not take well to their imposition.

"What are you doing? I can handle myself fine, go help Haruno! This fight is mine!" She did not seem particularly reasonable or receptive to commands in the midst of battle, and sharing a look and a sigh, the clones decided to let her have the fight.

That left Kiba. Akamaru and he, both in a familiar, feral human form, had Sakura on the defensive in a small clearing they've just de-trapped, she was backing away slowly but surely. Dodging their continuous attacks took much out of her, she was already panting slightly, using the clones' arrival and pelting of the dog user with shuriken to withdraw to a safer distance.  
To gain a free breath or two and a moment to think, she engaged her enemy in conversation, recalling how even Naruto could get Kiba to take a break for a small gloat, hopefully revealing some useful information.

"So, Shino is busy with whatshername and you still attack me, even with backup? That's unusually stupid even for you, Kiba. Do you think you can last until your reinforcements get here?" She made her first venture, careful to hide her panting, trying to get the light shining in from the edge of the forest behind her back.

Two gruff humanoids exchanged a look. The one on the right shrugged, the other laughed briefly and spoke.  
"What makes you think they are not here already, enjoying the show? And for the record, Naruto's transformations are useless if they all smell of instant ramen. If the real Naruto was here among them he'd have charged in already, so that means all we have to deal with is just you, that Tenten girl, and a few easily taken clones."

The two of them locked eyes. Sakura readied her shuriken holster, and was now glad she spent all that time trying to improve her skills. For all her disagreement of his pupil, under Gai-sensei's physical tutelage whenever she was not working with Kurenai-sensei she hasn't had a night over the past month that she didn't collapse into her bed dead tired, but she was very much feeling the results now.  
Still, she was under no illusion as to who had the advantage here. Kiba got the same training from Gai and more of it, was faster than her, hit harder, had aptitude for sensory techniques and doubtless some clan secrets too.

The other Kiba on all fours fixed his eyes on her, much too comfortable in the position than any human ought to be. With the distance between the enemy duo, she knew the moment she tried an attack, she'd be rushed from two different angles. Not good. The way Tenten disappeared behind the trees, there'd be no help from there either.

Sakura bit her lip slightly and tried to assess the situation. Would the Narutos around the clearing make the difference of even just Akamaru? She was unsure. The chuunin of Team Seven has clearly gotten better, which reflected in his clones, but they were just clones. How about getting the clones to keep Kiba busy while she takes care of his help? If she did some damage to Akamaru while Kiba was busy, all she'd achieve would be a bruise or wound and a guilty conscience for having kicked a puppy regardless of form, but if the enemy hit a clone hard enough it would dissipate and the group would be deprived of its strength for the rest of the mission.

"Get back! Find Tenten, give her support!" She yelled at the Narutos, considering the chances of having just confirmed Kiba's suspicions on the rest of the team being clones. It didn't matter, she had an idea. "I can take care of you two no problem."

"But Tenten said-" They chorused.

"I don't care what she said, you lot are useless here! Do I have to do all the thinking? Go see if you can salvage some explosives from the pile or other traps!" Perhaps it was that they weren't real, or the chuunin tactical training had them agree with her, but reluctantly the clones withdrew, back to the forest.

She broke the sentence abruptly, hoping that brought her a fraction a second and bolted to her right, she too backing towards the cover of trees. Kiba and Akamaru moved in synch as they leapt after her, meeting in mid-air and launching themselves in that odd way again, speeding up and going after her, slamming right into a tree trunk a half second behind her.

She kept an eye on them as Kiba and Akamaru disentangled themselves. They too were panting heavily, with one Kiba passing on a soldier pill to the other, which in an absurd way cheered Sakura on. She was facing a fellow genin without skills or reserves far out of her league, not a living legend, a Kage-level monster out to get Sasuke, or a bloodthirsty living weapon of the Sand possessed by a demon. It was human against human now.  
Well, it was a lightly built girl who was beginning to study illusions but did not have any actual skills to show for it yet, against a heavier and taller boy focusing on physical combat who had more specialised training and his combat dog on his side. Those still were the best odds she's ever had in a fight so far, discounting the one against Ino.

The question was, with the roughly similar levels of skill whether she'd get too tired to evade, or he too tired to attack.

She made sure to be just slow, just predictable enough to keep Kiba's interest on her – and when he moved in to intercept her predictable moves, he was easy to predict too. An idea was forming in the back of her mind, but she had to do it right.

The cat-and-mouse game seemed to be working. Focusing on their movements, she could spot the odd hint as to which of her foes was which. The man-beast mimicry was flawlessly executed, but the way they moved, if you looked at them keenly enough did reveal which was the real humanoid. Kiba made more human expressions, and even when on all fours, had a small preference for his legs, using his hands more to coordinate, less to carry his weight. Akamaru on the other hand still moved, when you stripped away the surface and the obvious training, still like a dog in human form. Kiba was partial to punching and kicking, generally leading the attack, and Akamaru would follow with a leaping tackle she found harder and harder to avoid, needing to resort to more and more risky tricks to get away.

But as the three of them danced their little dance, she felt better than in any other fight before. It was just her and the enemy. She was not playing the guard at the ready, not relying on her sensei or teammates, but doing something of her own. She's made great declarations of determination and hard work before, and meant every word of them. But now, for the first time, she really felt like a shinobi, in charge of the fight and bearing the full brunt of it.  
She decided she liked it.

She never really had a good sense of rhythm, but keeping an eye on who was who, she was slowly putting together the attack pattern. Maybe it was something rooted in how ninja dogs are trained, maybe it was simply an advanced set of strikes Kiba and Akamaru hadn't yet mastered enough to put in their own variations, but there was a certain repetition to it.

Sakura dropped the taunting act, and let the combat flow naturally, trying to puzzle it together.  
One, Kiba punched, direct, fast, two she dodged, three Kiba made a feint, four, Akamaru tackled where she'd be if she avoided that attack.  
She took Kiba's feint hit and parried, scampered away, a large rock next to her enduring the impact of man and dog.

One, Kiba kicked, direct, fast, two, she did a pirouette to the side, three Kiba went for a follow-up but missed, four, Akamaru moved to tackle, five, Sakura smacked him on the ear. And felt bad afterwards, until their special clan technique almost hit her.

One Kiba punched her, two she caught his fist, three he had no room to fight, four Akamaru closed in, five she kneed Kiba in the groin. Then she used his distraction and Akamaru's concern for his master to get away again and barely avoided their whirling attack and they threw themselves at her angrily as soon as she was clear of immediate cover.

The pattern went on and on. She grew tired, needed every advantage and the positioning of the sun, was taking more hits than the other two, but she was drawing them away and angering them. To their credit they were drilled well, despite their anger they did not depart from a tactic that seemed to be working. Their formation was good. They adapted to her using the trees as cover, avoided most of her own attacks, never separated from each other, kept in synch perfectly. With the way things were going, she felt she better finish this as soon as possible, or she might just drop from sheer exhaustion.

She spun around the last barrage of attacks and got away with just a small nick on her arm, and prepared to make her move. With as fast a dash as she dared she lured him to the right place, and prepared her weapon.  
And there Kiba came, sticking with his method. He opened with a fast forward punch and Sakura knocked his arm away with some difficulty. She was not moving away, so his follow up was strong and he put his whole weight into it, moved his entire torso and body accordingly – the momentum of his head adding to the force of impact as Sakura smashed her bottle of perfume she smuggled into her other hand right into the middle of his face, with the glass breaking on his nose. He swore and tried to get the shards of glass, the incense and alcohol out of his eye and nose.  
As he broke out in a furious scream she controlled her chakra as well as she could, straining her remaining reserves and leapt over him, surprising the still advancing Akamaru from above, landing on him hard, kicked him in the nose as hard as she could and bounced off. Wheezing tired, she considered just leaving the two there, but knew better; the question was only what she could do, having expended herself this much.

Akamaru could now barely keep up the transformation and his whimper and whine did little to make Sakura feel better about what she just did. Watching Kiba roll around wasn't exactly fun either, but she reminded herself that it was not her who opened the fight with the big techniques.

"Argh, my nose! And Akamaru! That's it, bitch, you're going down!." He grit his teeth and pulled his smashed nose back into a proper alignment. He spit some blood on the ground. He knew it would have been a better idea to let go of the fight, but that was the one thing an Izunuka never did.  
His head was spinning, his eyes still teary, all he could smell was blood and the perfume, and looking at what she did to Akamaru made Kiba want nothing more than to pummel Sakura into a pink stain on the tree she was clinging to. He may have been badly, but the fight worn her out too. She clung to the tree with kunai, not chakra, she was bleeding and had some nasty bruises from earlier on, and looked she would pass out any second now.

Kiba wasn't gonna let that happen, he was not winning this by default after this. Nobody hurt Akamaru without getting some heavy ass-kicking right back.  
He whistled sharply and Akamaru perked up. He may have been still wearing Kiba's features, but to the genin he would always be just Akamaru, whatever the form. The dog looked at him, then Sakura, and gave a short growl of determination.  
They assumed the starting position, synched their movements and built up the chakra for the rush.  
They tensed their bodies and locked their eyes on the victim.  
She was squirming and tried to move, but couldn't will her shaking legs to jump, her injured arm to get her out of harm's way.  
"Gatsuga!"

The world became a spinning blur. Losing the sense of smell to guide them was disorienting, but the stationary target was still about to learn her lesson and get a few weeks in the hospital for her trouble.  
Like an arrow they shot through the air, and Kiba caught just a short flicker of her panicking face as they finally hit her.

And they cleaved right through the illusory body of a bunshin, lightly scraping the tree as they continued their flight unopposed, over the fence of the Forest of Death, unable to stop themselves.  
With Kiba's control lost, the technique undid itself and as he fell, he could just about make out the figure of the real Sakura hiding against the trunk. He's been stumped by one of the most basic techniques the Academy offered, the Clone Jutsu.

"Haha! Take that!" Sakura yelled with some satisfaction. If she could choose what the first victory she earned on her own would be, the first choice would not be a ring-out against a fellow Leaf genin, but she happily took what she could get. "Uh, tell Akamaru I'm sorry about his nose! And your face too!"  
She hopped away, leaving Kiba to lick his wounds, now safely outside the test.

* * *

For the moment Tenten was making a push forward.

She turned a slash against her opponent's legs he barely jumped over into an eight-figure strike that would have finished the fight against anyone else, but once more she was surprised by the uses the boy had for his allies, he shot a small swarm of bugs out of his arm at great speeds, using them to launch himself backwards.  
Tenten had to jump to the side or meet the swarm, which in turn would have finished the fight in Aburame's favour. Landing with a roll she ran forward again, knowing the moment she started playing on the defensive she'd lose this.  
Strike after strike he either evaded or made her abandon her attack, he was unlike most other opponents Teten has ever faced. Sometimes people would be cool, arrogant or simply professional, but they tended to let on more as they fought, either with the style or moves they chose, gloating or through their expressions during a fight.

This guy, Tenten realised, possessed a poker face that would have Neji completely beaten and humiliated. The style of his fighting betrayed little about him besides the fact that he was indeed an Aburame, and by the looks of it, inventive. The most personal thing she could spot were some _very_ well polished, shined and maintained sunglasses, which made it even harder to guess where he was looking or what he was thinking.

He may not have had the sensory capacities of Neji, but his insects must have fed him some information on his surroundings. He had no trouble constantly facing her and running or hopping from branch to branch backwards. And thinking of the braches, Tenten made a gambit. She swung the polearm in her hand down with some force, hoping to cut through the thick bough Aburame was standing on, messing with his balance just enough to get in a strike. It was a partial success. He gave a surprised almost-yelp as he suddenly fell down, but quickly drew a kunai and stuck it into a tree, controlling his descent enough to turn it into a run down on its trunk.  
With a small sigh Tenten followed. At least she broke his continuous stare at her, which was beginning to get creepy. Tactically sound and understandable, but creepy nonetheless.

Tenten too ran down the trunk, taking care to remain on the other side. She sacrificed some speed but made sure she was as quiet as possible as she got down and went around to flank him.  
She was not hugely surprised to find him facing her, already throwing shuriken at where she'd emerge; her attention was more claimed by a small detail. Shino was reabsorbing some of the swarms he let fly earlier. Maybe they could not tolerate too long a time out of his body, maybe he had a limited capacity to coordinate them outside of direct contact with his chakra, perhaps earlier on he used too many of them and was now reabsorbing some to make sure he would always have enough to fall back on.

Another bit of info about the Aburame: until he was in a position that it suited him, he was not one to let his enemy think through the situation. He sensed Tenten's slowing down and immediately pushed, hoping to gain back the offensive advantage and drive her out of the range where she could be dangerous.  
He risked injury and went in for the close range. Unaccustomed to melee combat, he still delivered a solid punch and a straight kick, then tried to wrestle away her pole arm from Tenten. Once he had his hand on it he could set a few of his allies on it to reduce it to sawdust, and keeping up the pressure would allow him to deny her further opportunities to summon more weapons.

Unfortunately he quickly found out that a year under Jounin Gai does not tend to leave one easily outmatched physically. He almost got his hand on Tenten's weapon when she smacked him in the face with the haft, then spun around and delivered a full blow to his stomach with the blunt end.

Out of breath he staggered back and prepared another attack with his swarms, positioned his body to bolt away again, but suddenly relaxed, righted himself and put up his arms.

"You're giving up? Why?" Tenten asked panting, disbelief fuelled by adrenaline.

"Because my stamina is dangerously low, your last hit has injured one of my queens and your ally has returned, meaning Kiba has lost his bout." He pointed in one direction, and within seconds Sakura indeed emerged in the distance, with some bad bruises, wounded and out of breath, but with the self-satisfied grin of the victorious. "The clones that you have sent away are also returning, therefore I conclude that the probability of victory at this point is insufficiently high for me to continue the fight, given the risks and the non-existent stakes involved in this exercise." He pointed in another direction and by the time Sakura joined them three Naruto clones appeared on the far side of the clearing as well.

"Well that's nice, but what do I do with you now? Hey Sakura, do you have any rope or cuffs on you? Uchiha seems the type to like that sort of thing, eh?" She asked, too tired to care if she angered the rookie.

Sakura went red enough to put Hinata to shame at first, then something cracked and she started laughing. Better than the nose bleed coming at the mental image and some of the ideas that came to mind. By the time the three Naruto clones, now in their normal form, got to Shino's side, the girls were laughing themselves and each other silly.

"Don't you dare try anything, y'know." A more alert clone warned Shino, and unused to the position of being the serious one, posed the question. "So it's good that you gave up and all, but what are we to do with you? I don't think it's a good idea to just knock someone out around here."  
"If I might offer a suggestion, I would not bring up the subject of ropes and restraining items if our positions were reversed. It appears to be … inflammatory." The genin's observation was, as always, bone dry.

Fortunately Sakura managed to wipe away her tears of laughter, and chirp in lightly.  
"Don't you worry, Shino, I think I got the solution as to what to do with you. But first let me see what equipment you have, seeing as you ruined our little signal. Suddenly I too feel like an explosion."

 **OMAKE** :

Kiba finished dressing Akamaru's wounds and let him lie on his chest. One of the better effects of the human-beast mimicry technique was that much of the damage was absorbed by the chakra construct body, but the kunoichi landing on him, given their relative weight, and that direct hit on the poor dog's nose inflicted some serious wounds on the puppy. His own weren't too nice either, and the mimicry was far closer to his real form. They'd heal fairly quickly and simply, but for the moment they hurt like hell.

"Ouch. Well, seems like we're out of the game, Akamaru." He laid in the grass, absent-mindedly scratching the dog behind his ear. Akamaru whined sadly and licked his face. "You and me both, pal. Suppose we ought to report back, but frankly I don't much feel like it. I'll have Shikamaru's hide too. Every idiot knows you don't just split up your pack, you need to be a Naruto league idiot to do something like that."

Akamaru whined again. How a small dog was capable of whining with such a condescending tone was beyond Kiba, but there it was nevertheless.  
"Okay, okay, I made the same mistake."

Akamaru whined once more.  
"Right, and I didn't smell the scroll on them either. And Shikamaru was right about the first group being a distraction too. A painful distraction that's a huge annoyance to deal with, though." He laid back, Akamaru on his chest and wagging his tail.

He was just about to doze off (to be officially blamed on battle damage) when a shadow fell on him. Kiba opened one eye.  
"Don't tell me they tricked you too to rush over the fence?"

"I will not. Why? Because that is not what happened." Shino's voice, to anyone who has known him for a long time, was ragged with exhaustion.

"So what was it?" Kiba asked, stifling his own yawn after Akamaru's. His… stoic friend had a habit of unwittingly putting his dog to sleep. Kiba supposed it must have been the tone.

"I surrendered." The Aburame admitted without beating around the bush. "It was the sensible thing to do. Might I join?"

"Plenty of grass around." Kiba would have shrugged if it wasn't painful.

"Thank you. Considering the situation, I would hold that reporting should be done as the units our chuunin created, and if replenishment is called for, the best course of action is to see to it we are in a state fit to face our superior." He fished around in the pockets of his coat. "Incidentally, would you like some rice cakes? My mother prepared some, but I never had the opportunity to offer them up to the group."

"One of them has a shuriken stuck in it."

"Indeed."


	9. I spy with my little eye

**Chapter 8 - I spy with my little eye  
**

Forests are strange things.

Individually each tree is just that, perfectly dull and ordinary. But once you have a sufficient mass of them growing wild, with enough animals, mushrooms and who knows what living in, on and around them, once there is barely a shred of sunshine reaching the ground level, fallen trees older than countries are slowly eaten away, long-dead trunks broken by weather and age still stubbornly stand upright like spikes and every breath you take is laden heavy with musk, spores and pollen, then the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts. It is no longer just a bunch of trees and dangerous animals, but a sealant that rips away light, heat and noise.

Forests like that were places peasantry never entered and used only to come up with scary tales to keep their children in line with all over the continent. These were the places where long before the Sage brought chakra to the world, animism and shamanism rose as ancient beliefs, because in these places, it was real and possessed power far outstripping mere man.

The Forest of Death could look at any one of these ancient woodlands and bully them out of their lunch money.

* * *

A proud Hyuuga of course did not let such things bother him, Byakugan piercing through the endless layers of flora and fauna. He knew where he was and he knew where the target was when he spotted them, where they were headed and at what speed, that was all that mattered right now.

Well, all right, spending a long time above the tree-line up on the tower roof, enjoying the fresh air and warmth of sunlight as he scanned the forest to supply info for Nara's plans, then later to keep watch was probably more enjoyable than cleaving through the shady, damp and dangerous forest. Neji could not shake the idea, however unlikely, of slipping and impaling himself on one of those tree trunks, but he could deal with that.

He could even put aside the noises of hasty consumption of potato chips behind him coming from his teammate. In all honesty it was a positive surprise to see the heavy genin not slow the two of them down. Neji had better things on his mind while training for the past month, but now he just about recalled Gai-sensei give a lot of attention to the pudgy Akimichi, and there had to be a reason Nara would send him alongside Neji. The non-lethal yet powerful Gentle Fist was a peerless technique to begin with, after all, not needing to worry about restraint so long as certain moves were not executed - a pang of regret there -and for the heavy strike the second team was to counter and capture, someone with immense physical strength and a great deal of restraint would be a good addition. Working with the genin may have been strange, but it was no real burden on Neji's mind.

What did bother him was the attitude of everyone, even their chuunin. They treated the current test as simple, friendly competition – well the chuunin treated it as a troublesome pain in the backside, predictably, but that hardly made things better – instead of taking account of the implications the test had. Maybe it was the difference in experience, but to him it brought more concern than simple fun.

Shedding his previous life views and trying to forge a new one, he found himself losing some of the confidence and security that came with his previous arrogance. Just how bad a situation the village was in, to let rookie genin go on missions under equally rookie chuunin? Naruto had his trust and Nara seemed competent, but surely you'd need years of experience to become a good leader, or even a really good follower? All of them had been given heightened training, but would all of that be enough?  
He wondered how his fellow team members handled the question, whether Tenten and L- whether Tenten saw this as more than a mere exercise and competition.  
Still, he could not supress a grin. His worries might have their time and place, but it was not now. And if a competition was what was scheduled, then there were certainly some on the opposing team he would be eager to face, and with that in mind things were looking up.

Yamanaka's mental technique was invasive and had a limited range, but before he got too far or too focused on the task ahead she did get the chance to relay an update. The first response team reported just before they engaged Naruto's first move, a feint like Nara predicted. Neji may have spotted a full complement from his perching spot atop the tower, but before their assault Izunuka determined that it was just clones, led by Tenten and Naruto's female teammate Lee had a thing for.

That was probably it for the animal user duo if he knew Tenten, but it also came with some fun prospects. The figures he saw leading the group he was after were Uchiha and Lee, after all. Until he got close enough to see the amount of chakra in the rest he could not be certain, but the way the group moved and with Yamanaka's info in mind, he was all but assured only those two were real flesh and blood. On the one hand it meant he would not get a chance for a friendly rematch against Naruto, but on the other he did say he wanted to face the Sharingan user before, and was still yet to make anything of that.

It wasn't long now. He heard the boom of a distant explosion manage to breach the soundproofing of the forest and wondered what took Tenten so long to break them out. After her loss against the Wind user in the preliminaries she was very, ahem, vehement in her demand that Gai-sensei teach her something effective against the element.

What was more interesting was the effect the noise had on the enemy team. They were fast in their approach before, but clearly cautious, appropriate for the task. Now they set that aside and took every risk, ran straight through clear areas, barely avoiding some traps Izunuka and Aburame set in a hurry. The explosion was clearly a sign that whatever plan they had, it was time to move. Thankfully they did not change their course and the sweet spot for the attack Neji found would still work.

He checked his gear. It was as underused as ever, but carried around and maintained out of sheer pride and their function as status symbols. A few months earlier he'd have probably reflected on the shallow nature and pretence of it all, but right now he just found it funny.  
He changed, and did so for the better, proving that his previous fatalism was wrong with every day he managed to form an honest smile and look at the future with hope. He stood next to someone whom he'd have considered a useless fat glutton and a walking joke, who could now easily keep pace with someone a year his senior rushing himself to get to the right point, someone the tactical genius chuunin put with him as one equally capable, reliable and dangerous, to face whatever would be Naruto's strongest move after the misdirection.

Happy with his impromptu reflection, he finally looked over to his fellow shinobi.  
Who was happily shaking a packet over his wide-open mouth, hoping a few more morsels would fall out.

"Aw, I'm all out of the lightly salted ones!"

* * *

… And there was the explosion.

Better late than never – Sasuke was too cautious to let Lee and the rest charge ahead when the time was up, preferring to give Sakura and that other kunoichi some more time. He briefly wondered what on earth must have been used to let the noise travel all across the forest, given the relative quiet during the Exams, but it was of little importance. Lee took the noise as a signal to proceed more carelessly and as fast as he could, and happily the team of Narutos followed him.  
Sasuke sighed with resignation, only wondering for how long they could have kept up the more careful approach without something to set them off. At least he no longer had to endure their respective types of, well, let's just call it enthusiasm.

Their wild, loud and irresponsible charge ahead was fast, but so was Sasuke. Just a flicker of his Sharingan showed him the best route to catch up, cut corners and be in the best position to keep a lookout while doing so. He fully caught up with the energetic group just as they were about to cross a small river that ran into the bigger, deeper one that bisected the forest.

For all the river separated the two banks, there was an even clearer sense of division on the two sides of the fence guiding them thus far. Until now it remained a simple, if strong and tall boundary, but now it gave way to a large steel and wooden gate arching over the river in the shape of a foreboding, frowning face. Below it and completing the arch were two beams fashioned after arms, meeting in clasped hands that held the net underneath, with holes large enough that most small aquatic life could get through no problem, but still barring humans and most mammals.

The art work of the gate was not the sole reminder of human activity either. Unlike most of the forest that quickly did away with signs of occasional human intrusions, here there were clear signs of persistent, regular activity. On both sides of the river the forest was beaten back twenty or so meters, with signs of occasional use: grass grew differently on some patches, there was a small and cold, abandoned fireplace on the far side, the soil looked a bit too disturbed on this side. Beyond the trees, there were a number of crates stacked up neatly but hastily covered with a simple camouflage net. Sasuke suspected an elaborate trap for a moment, but discarded the idea as the signs were hidden neither well enough nor badly enough. Chances were the clearing had some function besides the general purpose of the Forest of Death as a training ground.

"Careful as you cross." Sasuke warned, his eyes piercing deep enough in the river to spot the skeletons of a few large animals caught up against the net. None of the skeletons looked particularly old or worn, but they were completely clear of flesh. They were also close to some suspiciously well fed looking fishes swimming about. "The inhabitants of the river might be dangerous."  
Teamwork might not have been his most excellent aptitude, but common sense was, and those two (well, five, depending on how you looked at it) might just have needed some direction.

Lee could not use chakra after all, and Sasuke was unsure whether he could run over the water. Swimming did not seem like a good option. Perhaps he could try running on the fence and gate? They both looked sturdy enough for it, the gate was free from rust or signs of disuse, likely maintained by whoever used the clearing at the sides of the river. Before he could make his recommendation however, Lee cut him off.

"I see you must have formed your conclusion regarding my inability to use chakra, Sasuke-kun. I commend you, it is most thoughtful. However, there is no need! Gai-sensei's training shall get me through this obstacle!" He dug around in his leg-warmers and took out what seemed to be training weights.

Sasuke did not reply, merely raised an eyebrow curiously. He's heard a few things of the feats achieved by the taijutsu specialist, and if he was willing to show off, all the better. And simple, uncomplicated competence was a welcome relief from Team Seven's usual behaviour as far as he was concerned.

"You sure you want to leave them behind? The rest of the mission's not training for you then." A Naruto clone disguised as Tenten commented, doing a surprisingly good impression of the girl.

"Tenten, you are wrong there. I don't intend to leave them behind at all!" The unbroken cheer in the declaration was almost enough by itself to believe the claim. Not that it needed rely on that, the absurdity of what followed fulfilled that part.

Sasuke's seen Zabuza flick around a huge hunk of metal he called a sword like it was a twig before, so the sight was not unprecedented as such. But that was a grown man handling something that had to weigh at most half as much as he did. Lee was lanky but still far from an adult, and his training weighs looked normal enough, but they had a certain air about them. Sasuke had trained along with everyone else with Maito Gai enough to recognise something stupendously overdone in his particular style, so while his ever-reliable eyes and brain suggested at most the metal belts would be no more than ten kilos or so, sensible and responsible, a gut instinct told him that his estimation was far, far, far off.

Lee's arms did not tremble as he held them out, but Sasuke could feel, infer the sense of sheer strength one would need to achieve that. The following spin and expert throw as if of shuriken, was quick enough to make a man dizzy just thinking about it, and the impact was no less imposing. He would never admit to it to anyone else, but Sasuke quietly made a note to himself to speak with Kakashi about his claim that he's successfully gotten him to that physical level. And to look into the topic of training weights, given the results.

The leg braces hit with all the power their weight and speed would suggest, their impact on the trees they hit was hardly surprising. Tall, proud and mighty, they still groaned as they slowly toppled over, but Sasuke was more focused on Lee as he set off. He ran so fast Sasuke's Sharingan could barely keep up, right to the edge of the river, where he jumped.

Compared to the chakra briefly flooding the bodies of the clones following him, now notably more even and controlled than the last time Sasuke has used his Sharingan on the chuunin, Lee used none at all. Sasuke found himself transfixed for the moment, trapped in comparison. The clones soared through the air like it was nothing, but beyond that first flare there was no real skill involved. Lee on the other hand twisted and turned, aimed his jump with the wind in mind and seemed far more aware of what he was doing, enough to incorporate twisting upside down and raining shuriken down onto the shoal of fish that jumped up at them with gaping mouths.

It was like recalling the Kekkei Genkai of Haku, watching the movements with his Sharingan. He's copied the taijutsu user's technique before, but all that was was strikes, poses and movements, whereas this incorporated something unique. Each movement made sense, and Sasuke _could_ replicate them, but the overall effect, the grand total, not only would it be meaningless to try and make up for a deficiency he did not have, but also incredibly difficult, needing him to adapt to a whole different way of thinking.  
Yet it was also disturbingly familiar. It did not take long for Sasuke to realise where he's seen movement like that: practicing his shurikenjutsu Itachi did the same, precise movements in the air. Sasuke's never thought about it, but with just the smallest bit of precise enough chakra use anyone could pull off his trick, yet instead his brother made it happen the hard way. The masterful movements, the calculations and sheer intuition that went into the technique, it was something that Sasuke still has not yet fully perfected. His brother, by comparison, made it look easy, even to someone who was hailed as a rare talent himself.

It was then that the realisation fully hit Sasuke. There was an immense rift between someone without chakra like Lee and Naruto, who had it just like most normal ninja. There was also a rift between Naruto, who may have had tons of raw chakra, but next to no control or particular talent, and someone like Sasuke himself to whom it all came at the snap of his fingers.  
But there also was a rift just like that between someone who was a talent, like Sasuke, and someone who was a genius like Itachi. And just like Lee had to struggle to keep up with the chakra-user Naruto, just like Naruto had to try in his incessant, infuriating way to catch up to him, Sasuke too would have to make the same amount of effort if ever he was to even level with, never mind beating the genius of Itachi.

He was a cripple fighting a perfectly healthy man, a man without chakra trying to leap as well as shinobi, a talentless clown going up against the star pupil, the talented hopeful against the inhuman genius.  
And it was being done right in front of his eyes. Lee could overcome it. And his last fight has shown him that Naruto was very close to overcoming his own. Both of them did it through sheer hard work, and if those two could make it, then so could he! All this time he was looking for shortcuts, ways of obtaining strength quickly. Even his determination to gain more field experience, questions to the old Sannin, the training with Mitarashi was just a different way of doing the same thing.

What Sasuke had failed to do was to fully realize the sheer effort that was at the heart of the task he'd taken on himself.  
He let go and a half smile appeared on his face. That Mitarashi woman was most definitely crazy, but that meditation technique did seem to work, it let him see things more clearly. He too made his jump.  
He did so carefully, because nothing ruins a philosophical mood quite like being devoured by a bunch of fish.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, beyond the destination point_

* * *

The Hokage's life was one of burdens and duty, but that wasn't to say there were no fun moments. Enjoying sunlight once more, following the brats' fights on her predecessor's crystal ball, with Shizune taking the notes and some of her best jounin lightly discussing and commenting on moves carried out, this felt more like a small picnic than a genuine duty. If the Chuunin Exams were anything similar, sign her up!

Well all right, she did watch the fight, and its effects on the jounin sensei like a hawk. Fun or no, this was serious business, and if she couldn't have her troops falter on the lower rungs of the ladder, it was doubly so for their superiors. So far they held up well; Kurenai's expressions were as controlled as expected of a genjutsu user even when watching her genin and pupil in the art of illusions duke it out, Kakashi and Asuma held convincing appearances of being deeply immersed in Jiraiya's penmanship or the newest packet of cigarettes, merely just happening to have glanced in the direction of the crystal ball every so often.  
And then, of course, there was Gai.

Beyond the ear-bursting shouts of cheer and expectations, though, Tsunade was surprised to spot another oddity, and in her aide at that. As she skimmed over the progress of the brat's teams, with the Uchiha's lot approaching a clearing, she could have sworn that for a split second, Shizune could well have broken out in cold sweat. Then again, she never did like fish, likely even less the ones that bit back. It was as if she saw a vengeful spirit lurking in the trees, and Tsunade couldn't help but smirk in the small ways in which the adorable little girl she once took under her wing still found a way of appearing every now and then.

* * *

Lee and the clones landed with the final slump of the tree. The boom of a crashing giant and the row of formerly perching birds, the dust cloud kicked off by all this was probably not the stealthiest of approaches, upon later reflection, but as it turned out their stealth wasn't doing much good in the first place. With Sasuke still in the air, they received the first evidence of enemy ninja on this side of the river.

"Human Bullet Tank!"  
The battlecry of Chouji was familiar, but the technique following it far less so. The transformation happened in a flash, and the speed of the blurry greenish human ball rolling at them was such that even for Lee, getting out of the way was only thanks to a desperate leap forward. Two of Naruto's clones followed his example and got out of the way, although another two were caught up in the onslaught of power and friction. However, while Chouji's power grew, but it clearly came with a few problems yet to sort out, such as control. An additional tree fell as the genin continued on and knocked it down.

The onslaught was clearly well-planned; there didn't seem to be so much as a second to react even for those who got away from the Akimichi charge.  
"Nice evasion, Lee. However…" Neji used the dust cloud to mask his entrance. There were plenty of ways to join the fight, but no self-respecting ninja would let go of the opportunity. He was already in a position all too familiar to his opponents. "…you are in the field of my divination. Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

"Two strikes!" He hit the closest opponent, a clone instantly dispelled with the Gentle Fist attack.

"Four strikes!" He turned to Lee who was moving to intercept. Lee was used to at least trying to fend off his attack, but could at best endure a few strikes. Perhaps 'fate' did not enter the picture and it was all up to the individual, but it did not change the fact that going up against a Hyuuga in melee combat was not a very good idea.

Then again the Hyuuga were not the only ones with a few bits of conventional wisdom flying around. And you _never_ turned your back on an Uchiha, never mind the field of vision.  
"Fire Release: Grand Fireball!"

Even the most self-assured and effective close combat specialist can get disrupted by a mid-range technique outside of his ability to immediately deal with, forcing him to cut his losses and break off the attack. In the heightened state of the Sixty-Four Palms technique, he could see the blossoming flower of fire reflected in Lee's eyes, rushing towards them, see the shadows lengthen and the heat from the flames begin to scorch his neck. He did what rivalry duels and warring clan ancestors have done for generations, whenever a Hyuuga and Uchiha met throughout history.  
"Kaiten!"

The fireball enveloped him, but did little besides provide a little warmth. The bulk of the technique was reflected all around him, and most of the rest simply absorbed by his chakra. More to Neji's concern Uchiha finished with his own landing and was waiting shuriken in hand for him to stop his absolute defence.

Lee and the clone used the opportunity to get away, and were unharmed by either the fireball breaking on his spinning chakra defence nor the Kaiten itself. They were not, however, the only ones who used their time well.

"Partial Multi-Size Technique!" Chouji disengaged his roll and in a bizarre attack swung his left fist forward extremely fast, expanding his lower arm as he did so. The sole remaining Naruto clone jumped up and threw shuriken at the stationary figure of Chouji, but the genin, with an unusually serious expression, blocked them with his kunai in his right hand and grunted slightly as he continued to push against Lee who decided to stay his ground and grab the chakra-bloated limb that might as well have been a wall rushing at him.

It was a testament to Gai's teaching methods that Lee was not pulverised by the blow and in fact managed to stop it in its tracks, trying to find a good grip on a fist as large as a man.  
"Ugh." He grunted back to his teammate. "Sasuke-kun, though it pains me to forego a chance to fight my eternal rival, I shall leave Neji to you. Until I show my friend here the extent of my vigour, that is." He added with a blinding grin.

"Ngh-not done yet!" Chouji yelled, and held his right arm high before expanding it, creating a momentary tower, which he hammered down towards Sasuke with all the might he could muster.

The Uchiha's surprised jump forward, away from the impact of the massive limb was all the distraction Neji needed. He stopped his spin before it consumed too much of his chakra and with an activated Byakugan he rushed forward to meet Uchiha at melee range and seal the fight, along with his chakra network, taking advantage of his split attention.

The factor he failed to account for, however, is that following his fight against Naruto Sasuke had made it a point to keep better tabs on what to do when fighting multiple opponents, focusing not just on his speed, but situational awareness. Kakashi's lesson from that day lingered;while the genin retained a preference for offensive tactics, he became more at ease with switching the rules and focusing on the defence. Neji may have fought time after time against Lee's speed, but now he encountered a similar, devastating style with a more calculating mind behind it. No braving of his attack to deliver a punch in the face of it; instead evasion and counter-strike, all at frightening speeds.

Before the first Gentle Fist attack landed where he expected Sasuke to be, he caught a blow in his side from where he actually managed to bolt, and before he could react the Uchiha danced outside the range of both his normal strikes as well as his Kaiten. He knew that from this point, things would get tricky, his Byakugan warning him that Uchiha activated his own special eyes.

The iris burned red with chakra or blood, with two pairs of tomoe spinning around the pupils. To someone used to the almost royal, solid pearl and lavender of proper dojutsu seeing one this grotesque was off-putting, even before rough recollections of the boons it granted came to Neji. There was no danger of Uchiha being able to copy any ability of his, and what he knew of their clans' conflicts suggested that the two-tomoe variant could not predict movements as well as a fully matured one.  
The Uchiha did have a more varied arsenal than he did, however – elemental techniques at his age and rank and it would be best not to test the Byakugan's aptitude to break illusions against the famed hypnotism of the Sharingan. If he adjusted his expectations he would have the edge in melee, but Uchiha had better mid-range jutsu and his shuriken were not just for show. Was going toe to toe his best option? He'd have to see.

He used the cover of remnants of the dust kicked up and the fog created with Akimichi's massive limbs disappearing to get around Uchiha, avoiding a simple, quick-deployment wire trap that he must have left before leaping, and tried to flank his enemy.

Chouji moved his now normal sized arms around and exhaled a bit. The clan technique was more demanding of both chakra and calories than he expected, and it did not do much good, besides apparently impressing Naruto's clone and Lee.  
"Excellent technique, Chouji-kun! Truly the wonders of ninjutsu and taijutsu are limitless! I shall endeavour to meet your challenge with due diligence!" Without a heartbeat's pause he rushed forward.

"Nice, Chouji!" Naruto yelled. "But try to take this!" The clone pulled out a Fuma Shuriken and threw it at the genin.

"I'm just much more terrified of Sasuke and Neji over there than you two!"  
Chouji was not the bravest of fellows, nor the most easily roused. But his month in Gai-sensei's tender mercies has taught him that sometimes competition is not all that bad, so long as it is all in good spirits, and that trying to run away from your problems rarely solved them - within that month, said problem being a maniac in green.

Summoning a willpower and focus he did not know he had, he reached out and grabbed the large shuriken speeding towards him, slammed it downwards and knocked the second one following in its shadow into the ground as well. With a movement of his wrist embedded into muscle memory by the Academy he closed the instrument up, and attempted to catch the advancing Lee with it, taking care to hit only with the blunt end. His knees trembled with the impact, and terrible memories flared in his mind as Lee met his defensive move.  
With the clone out of range and the taijutsu specialist bounding back off his push, it all seemed too easy.  
He hardly needed Shikamaru's brains to figure out that that was because things were about to go very poorly with him.

"What noble fighting spirit, my friend!" He heard, suddenly from behind him. "But I am afraid you will need to do more to match my own!"  
Padded clothing, mesh under-layer and well, padded skin did much to help him but Lee's kicks launching him upwards were still painful to endure. He felt his limbs wrapped and felt Lee's presence behind himself, readying that attack he tried on the Sound genin and against that monster from the Sand. Desperate and certain the scary Hyuuga would not rush to his defence, Chouji thought harder than ever before as he readied himself for the hard, spinning landing on his head.

However, the pressure and rush of combat did him good. Spinning, it occurred to him, was not something only used by Lee.  
Fighting against the wraps, he called out.  
"Human Bullet Tank!"

* * *

In the heartbeat of time that passed, a lot happened.  
The Naruto clone found himself caught up in the middle, not sure where or even how best to help either combatant. Mostly he just wished he had a cup of ramen to keep him company. The spectacle certainly called for it.

To the side Sasuke and Neji were little more than blue-black and beige-white blurs, belching flames or spinning with a glorious blue aura, but far more interesting was the mid-air struggle of Eyebrows and Chouji.

The fa- heavy boned genin intercepting his best thrown weapon was a surprise on its own, but as expected, early on it seemed Lee would finish the match quickly. He must have been impressed enough with Chouji that he decided to show off too and finish their fight with his best move – which played out against him.  
Chouji swelled up to the spherical form of his rolling attack, limbs still wrapped in cloth fixed to Lee disappearing somewhere. The seemingly endless rolls of the material kept the two of them connected and as Chouji began to roll mid-air, adding to the spin Lee began, he rendered Gai's star pupil into less of a combatant and more of a moon, dangling on the material like a ragdoll.

Their descent could not last forever and it was with a small cringe that the clone witnessed the unfortunate Lee being smashed into the ground, nearly and thankfully avoiding the dubious honour of cushioning Chouji's own impact – but once more being dragged along by the spinning, rolling mass going around in circles and spinning in place, thrashing the genin around. The clone was unsure if Chouji was using every moment of advantage he could get, could not control himself with his hands wrapped or actually passed out, maybe unable to undo the technique. Right now, it hardly mattered.

Too concerned with their own duel to help, Sasuke and Neji kept on fighting.  
A Sharingan helped its user nearly avoid a strike to a chakra point, a Byakugan urged Nei to parry a strike from an angle no one had any right to see through.  
A chakra-aided dash backwards and with a quickness of drawing shuriken that would have impressed even Tenten, Sasuke threw a mass of them at his target, only to see them pushed aside by the briefest flash of spinning blue energy around the genin. Emerging unscathed from the assault, Neji went for his own attack, attempting a head-on offensive on Sasuke, secure in the knowledge that if he locked him in a melee there and then, the fight would be over quickly. The drawback was that the momentum of his strikes carried him too close to attempt another Kaiten; with his speed Uchiha could use the fraction of a second needed to start it up – or even if he didn't he would doubtless spot it and would know what window of opportunity to aim for in the future.  
In this case, the Kaiten was best reserved for defending against those mid-range fire jutsu.

To top it off, not only was it risky to use one of his trump cards against him, Uchiha was slippery. He moved around far too many Gentle Fist strikes that could have ended the fight on their own, almost as if he saw where they'd land before he even made the move – no wonder one of the biggest superstitions surrounding the clan was that they could see the future. To properly hit him, Neji would need to force an opening.

He first tried a simple change of method, from Gentle Fist to the regular forms. He was under no illusion that it would be worth much against someone of that level of taijutsu, but it was good enough for a one time surprise. A knee to the stomach and punch to the face was what he had in mind, but even faster than his Gentle Fist, Uchiha avoided the attack completely.

He tried letting Uchiha come to him and move around, but that proved more difficult than he expected. His speed was less direct and more tightly controlled than that of Lee, it was much harder to try and turn it on him. There was a favourable difference, however, namely far less of an experience with his techniques. Uchiha had finally made a mistake.

It was much harder to get him to attack than expected, but once he did commit, he came too close, but not fast enough. And more importantly, he was in range. Neji felt the approaching figure in the field of his divination and began the movements. The world seemed to crawl to a halt, the paled view of his Byakugan dipped into black, the world around him now more felt than seen.  
There was nothing in the field but Neji, Sasuke Uchiha and the strands of green chakra forming the pattern of the technique.  
"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms" Neji declared to the empty void.

Two strikes, one dodged and another punched away. This wasn't right.

Four, and he could barely follow the speed his opponents eyes darted around, burning red with chakra, seeing through the pattern of even this technique, making use of his speed and twisting his body his attacks – only one strike actually landed and it only grazed its destination. Neji concentrated, sped up.

Eight and there was almost nowhere for the Uchiha to turn that would not end up with closed chakra points, yet still he evaded. Three of his attacks landed however, two dead on and Neji could feel the chakra network weaken under his fingers.

As he began Sixteen, a chop caught his neck and made him dizzy. Did Uchiha go that far in this fraction of a second? He grit his teeth, redoubled his focus. This was no genjutsu, his eyes would have penetrated it. This was simply the Sharingan's prowess, and he would prove it was no match to the Strongest of the Leaf. The majority of his hits were evaded and blocked, but he did drive enough home to continue with his form.

Thirty two strikes and the evasion kept up. Neji was ready for the next incoming attack, flexing the jutsu and his body, moving out of the way of the approaching fists, keeping his focus. He incorporated a sidestep to the move and let his opponent pass by, avoiding the incoming tackle and spotting his opportunity. Thinking he cracked the technique, Uchiha grew overconfident and rushed, so now had his back to him. You never attacked an Uchiha face to face or alone – but his companion was tied up, and the fight was too fast to make use of the popular wisdom.  
Until this moment, that is.

Sixty four strikes and he prepared to rain them down and finish the fight. He almost reached one of the most important chakra centres of the body, almost managed to shut it down when he felt the backward kick against his ribs. Desperate he continued his motion, but Uchiha had already turned around, grinning. Neji knew he could withdraw and end the sequence, but he would not shame his clan by doing such a poor job of it.

So even the Sixty Four Palms could be parried or evaded, by someone other than a Hyuuga. That was the plain fact in front of him, denying it would do little good. But parrying the strikes are contacts still, and his enemy would regret underestimating the technique. The grin melted off Uchiha's face when Neji kept up, the attempt to shatter his confidence, method or concentration failed. Strike after strike he kept up, but his hands and arms took some of the damage, some of the jabs reached deep enough to make themselves felt, and as the final few approached, Neji finally broke through.

A jab with his right straight ahead and his foe shifted to the left and tried to punch his arm away, keeping half a red eye on his other hand, ready to counter the follow-up too. Would it be worth the risk to try and play him? Neji decided it was.  
He struck out with his left as well and followed Uchiha's reaction form, focus shift, the force pushing his right weaken, just enough for him to redirect the previous strike, not at the torso but the arm proper, right at a key chakra opening cluster at his elbow. He felt the openings close and saw the arm slacken, then spun around to deflect a coming kick and risked performing the final salvo of Gentle Fist strikes against the now weakened side, taking hits and a sharp pain across his arm to make sure at least some of his own have landed. No one has ever made him work that hard to deliver a successful sequence before. Since he began training him, as a gesture to bridge the houses, Neji discovered that Hiashi-sama could break the technique's hold with expert swiftness and Gai-sensei would never so much as allow him to begin, but Uchiha was fast, the only one of this age who was not simply rendered into a slow moving helpless target by the technique.

The final strikes complete, the technique finished and the real world took hold of him again. As quickly as he could he dodged away, barely avoiding the angry fireball sent after him. The attack was a success, he noted with satisfaction that this one was noticeably smaller and less hot than earlier ones. On the other hand he now had a collection of bruises and a fairly nasty, although thankfully shallow kunai wound running along his forearm that stung pretty badly.

They launched themselves backwards, watching each other like cats.  
Neji hurriedly bandaged the cut on his arm, which gave Sasuke time enough to take stock and lick his own wounds. He'd used up a lot of his tools and weapons on the lead-up, and the last exchange was costly. The sheer amount of chakra he had to burn to squeeze enough speed out of his body to counter some of those strikes, and more importantly a lucky Gentle Fist strike had him wheezing, able to breathe only shallowly. The Curse Mark, as expected, was again stinging, fighting the suppression, and his chakra network was dull with pain after who knows how many successfully hits.

Having missed most of the preliminaries and Naruto's match against the Hyuuga, Sasuke's knowledge on what the Byakugan or the Gentle Fist could do was second hand and spotty at best. The strikes bypassed your defences, hurting not the skin or bone, but the muscles, chakra network and the 'innards' as Naruto so eloquently put it while bragging about the victory that earned him the promotion. That sounded like a start, but what were the specifics?  
All he really gathered in the latest bout was that the dead, white eyes of the Byakugan, surrounded by bulging veins made his flesh creep. In his experience eyes ought to be either the ordinary kind, or the focused gems of power that his clan possessed, even when the Sharingan itself was not activated. He recalled little of his family and rarely did so, but always there was the memories of piercing gazes that set them aside from the common folk. Fighting another dojutsu user he knew it would not be the same, but surely, there had to be something they had in common? All he could see was something that barely registered as an eye in his books: the pupil incredibly faint, the iris unnaturally large. To Sasuke, the thing gave off a reflective and otherworldly quality of the worst kind.

Sasuke was familiar with his clan's famous rivalry with the Senju, less so with the one held against the Hyuuga. Nonetheless their techniques seemed to naturally suit a rivalry: the mid and long range shurikenjutsu, if you were good enough at it, could feasibly be a trump card against a clan so focused on melee and likewise the large Grand Fireball could get to the enemy however nimble – and the Kaiten, if he caught the name properly, seemed to provide a perfect defence against such attacks.  
If a Hyuuga got close enough, they could render their victim unable to use jutsu or chakra at all, and even without falling for it, Sasuke could already feel the effects of just a few hits. Already his ability to use jutsu was drained and a shadow of what it normally would be. A fast enough user of the style could disable his ability to work chakra altogether, robbing him of the ability to use the vast majority of his own clan's best techniques.

He slipped up in the last round and left himself vulnerable and received far too many successful hits, compared to what he managed to deliver. He grit his teeth for a moment, cursing Naruto for not being more specific or informative with his boasts if he had to make them at all. It would have been very useful to know how he managed to reopen his chakra points, much more so than to know that Neji apparently has a glass jaw. Certainly he did not seem too badly fazed by the kicks and chops he managed to land on the guy, difficult as that was.

Sasuke was having trouble keeping up and he knew it. Orochimaru was a monster beyond anything human and above simple comparisons, the sheer magnitude of power that strange old man threw around was frightening and Zabuza was rightfully known as a demon. Kakashi's skills as a world class professional likewise made him someone tricky to judge his own strength by. Hell, recently he had to admit that even Naruto was, on his better days, a practically indestructible and unpredictable opponent, one he'd have to push himself to defeat.

But this guy was a machine. He was relentless, methodical and thorough in the way he advanced, covered angles just the right way and each hit corroded away Sasuke's ability to fight back. That strike to his arm rendered it weak, and the following attacks were even worse. It was not so much painful as heavy and sluggish, making the job of defending against Hyuuga even harder. There was no weight or power to his movements and nothing to really look for before they began, giving him less time to react.  
Close combat was clearly playing to Hyuuga's strengths. There were few people his age who could even so much as keep up with Sasuke, but he had to admit that he was fighting one, and was losing. It was time to change tactics. Offensively or defensively, he was disadvantaged in a direct hand to hand fight, and he'd have to create a proper opening for a jutsu to get through that defensive technique. Neither of them seemed to have the advantage when it came to stamina, so at least he would not have to worry about tiring out sooner than Neji. At least he seemed to be holding the advantage when it came to mobility: his opponent was fast but rigid and his stances tended to rely on very little or very basic footwork. He also seemed to carry few or no weapons, meaning that in all probability he'd not be all that good at their use.

There was only one way to know for sure. The brief moment of respite and mutual catching of breaths seemed to be gone and Neji charged again. The approach was direct and fast, but a good enough sidestep and a back-flip got him out of direct danger. Still in the air, Sasuke threw a handful of kunai at Neji, only to discover they were all avoided easily and he even caught one. That kunoichi teammate of his, Sasuke realised, had to help Hyuuga train against ranged weaponry and there went another possible angle of attack. Sasuke only hoped that Kakashi would be busy watching someone else's efforts, otherwise this would doubtless lead to another speech on the fruits of teamwork.

He landed, and parried his own kunai thrown back at him. He retaliated with a few small bursts of flame, trying to conserve his chakra, to keep him off. Hyuuga was clearly well used to defending against ranged weaponry, and getting close to him was not a real option. He was rigid and slower than Sasuke but there was no real way of exploiting that. He could ward off the fire elemental attacks he had, the sole lightning one was too limited to waste trying and perhaps would take things too far, and besides, he needed both arms for it and one was not in the best of shape. The situation wasn't pretty but Sasuke couldn't help but brighten up. It was time to take some inspiration from his would-be rival and improvise.

He held this breath and judged the distances involved. Struggling to keep his arms in synch, Sasuke gathered two handfuls of thrown weapons and slipped some wires onto them with a single movement. In a painful, much practiced sequence he let them fly, at very deliberate speeds and angles. Then he grabbed some more and sent those after the first ones. Itachi's shurikenjutsu, the one he's been struggling with for years, was one he tried to master in vain out of no real practical need, merely seeing it as a milestone.  
But fighting Hyuuga now, that defensive jutsu, he could see the purpose of the technique. It gave him clue enough to try for it again, and this time, with his own twist.

Before the projectiles spread out in the first wave, he was already straining his legs with the chakra channelled into them, charging Hyuuga. He was conservative with its use, meaning it probably ate up his reserves quickly, and if he could force him to waste his energies, the fight would see a victor soon. And if he wouldn't, well, he could make use of that too.  
He crossed the halfway point between them when the first wave of shuriken has reached the right position, spread out. He was three quarters there, kunai in hand by the time the second wave hit the first in a short clang of metal.

The melee happened in a quick burst, one fighter focused on avoiding chakra-laden hand that could disable him further, the other wary to expose too much of his style or make himself vulnerable to the knives. Both were very much aware of the redirected shuriken and kunai heading their way, but both had too much to do in too little a time to avoid or deflect it. Strike and stab they exchanged, until the wet and heavy sounds of shuriken ripping into clothes, skin and muscle and mutual, suppressed groans of pain sounded.

Neji grabbed a kunai flying at him just in time, and used it to hold up Sasuke's advancing blade. The two strained against each other.  
"Hitting both of us, huh? Was that your big idea?" Neji asked, in a very carefully controlled, neutral tone.

"No." Sasuke could no longer suppress his grin. "This was."

The wires hung broken from some of the projectiles, connected some others on the same body, there were even a few that connected the combatants. Too late to react, Neji realised that that was what Uchiha was counting on.

Generating pure lightning element chakra unconstrained by a jutsu formula, Sasuke willed it to jump from his own system and arc over between shuriken, to follow the metal wire, right into his opponent. He saw Neji convulse with pain and knew he delivered the hit, but the build-up of chakra in his enemy did not suggest much good. He stopped the flow and tried to get away, but there wasn't-  
"Kaiten!"

Both struggled not to yell as the blue torrent of energy tore the shuriken out of their bodies, and unstable with Neji's pain, blew them both back once more.  
The metal clattered as it fell, both parties busy for a second with taking out as many as they could, removing the ones caught up in cloth and light armour, and wincing as they pulled out some from their arms. Sasuke had it easier: he knew from the start of the move what was coming, and some clever uses of chakra where not necessary for the jutsu let him get away lightly. Hyuuga by contrast took them with only his own wire mesh to defend him and took a direct hit from the improvised lightning jutsu. Best of all, during this newest exchange Sasuke knew he had not taken any more Gentle Fist hits and had probably made up for the previous bout's net loss.

Now they stood again at even ground, both trying to calculate their next move, allowing some time for the pain to wear off. A Sharingan stared at the Hyuuga, piercing and scanning for weaknesses, a Byakugan's gaze analysed the respective damage sustained and was keen on the lookout for the smallest muscles to twitch and the beginning of another round.

* * *

The clone was debating whether it should interfere. That level of fighting would be a danger even to the real Naruto, and he could actually take some hits. Besides, watching the two fight was an education all in itself. He's learned about the proper use of moves and countermoves and practiced them with Hinata until they were dead tired, but their practice sessions tended to simply be fun, lacked the sheer aggression and occasional, short flare of desperation both fighters showed. If either let up just for a second too long, the whole fight could be turned. Would this mean that even a clone like himself could be useful here? He had his doubts.

The dilemma at hand was resolved with a very loud pop of a jutsu dispelling. The spinning meatball that was Chouji finally undid itself, revealing once more the pudgy genin, now strikingly on the thin side and in fact thin enough in the arm to finally let the cloth slip off of it the moment the transformation disappeared. There was a loud crash as poor Lee was practically sling-shot towards the crates, but Chouji paid it no mind as he staggered, clearly dizzy, towards the river where he proceeded to feed the fishes. With some concern to a past fellow in detention and a Leaf ninja, the Naruto clone decided to drop the observation – the whole analytical stuff was not exactly to his taste after all – and helped him out, keeping the fishes from feeding on him while he was at it.

The disruption also halted the beginning of yet another exchange of attacks between the dojutsu users. With enough back-up either combatants could sweep the match, and it did neither of them any good to waste resources while waiting to see whose would get combat ready sooner. Both opponents sensed that the victor would be whomever landed the next hit big enough to hinder the other's ability to attack or defend. They mutually adopted a defensive posture . Sasuke practically nailed his eyes on Neji, looking for the slightest hint of his future moves in his muscles and tension of joints or skin. His hands gripped his kunai, ready to strike out as fast as he could at any advance.

Neji was keeping his field of divination ready. He had chakra enough for a few more attempts, but as his previous attempt had taught him, with enough chakra of his own, Uchiha could retain a fighting chance even caught in the technique. But did he have that much? The damned lightning jutsu was rough, wasteful and unformed, and in hindsight trying to keep up with the Sixty Four Palms had to use a lot of chakra. His gaze scanned the system of his opponent, looking for hints of the type of technique his enemy would be doubtless preparing, trying to find instabilities and estimate how much Uchiha had left.

It was safe to say that were a small insect to fly between their locked eyes, it would be roasted alive, and the tension was strong enough that it successfully survived the onslaught of the noises of someone throwing up very loudly with the sounds of Naruto trying to be accommodating and friendly to technically his enemy.

* * *

The crash was quite merciful to Lee, but something felt a bit wrong.  
He took a step forward. The world became a dog chasing its tail. A few seconds of holding onto a tree branch, fighting what apparently was the cosmos rapidly shifting position. Lifting one's leg was a Herculean task, if only one could recall who that was. Probably some ninja from the Village Hidden in the Whatdoyacallit. A small swing forward let you move, and a grand feat of balancing kept you upright. Well, in all fairness that depended on your idea of 'upright', but it was the principle that mattered.

Lee was not quite feeling like himself. For one thing he did not mind not feeling like himself. He practiced plenty of spinning while learning the Primary Lotus, and there was some similarity, but this feeling was not it, beyond a measure of dizziness after the technique was broken. He smacked his lips a bit, thoughtfully. Good job those crates were stuffed with hay. Probably to keep those bottles safe, and they did the job, most of them did not break. Those that did drenched his suit and hair with some funny-smelling liquid, and he had to shake some of it out of his ear. He blinked lazily.

Was this part of the test? Mind too fuzzy to think too hard at this, all that registered was the funny, pleasant taste in his mouth, the way it made him feel all better, and the hastily written note of 'Tsunade-sama's reserve' among the wreckage. Lee wasn't sure if it was for him, how much he should spare for the rest of the team, but right now he didn't feel like thinking. This was clearly medicine, bore the Hokage's name, and it made him feel all better. He cracked some of them too, and their precious contents were escaping anyway, so having some couldn't hurt. Right?

Happy with the conclusion, Lee could feel a loopy smile float on his face.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, around the crystal ball_

* * *

Shizune was conveniently gone, but that would not help her. Ignoring Kaakashi's small, but clearly present signs of irritation that she was ignoring Sasuke's fight and Gai being torn between terror at what he was seeing and already wanting to disturb the match, she watched Lee happily drink up the jewel of her collection.

Tsunade didn't doubt there would be no evidence, she did not raise the girl to be an idiot.  
Maybe what she'd think up would be unjustified.  
But she was in no mood to reconsider, and her best stress relief tonic was now officially gone.

* * *

The staring contest between the clans peaked in tension five minutes before. Chouji was still heaving and the Naruto clone busy trying to keep the fishes off of him, while making sure he was not bitten either. Two genin hailed as genius were now busy trying to predict the next five moves their enemy would make, and definitely not enjoying a few minutes where their wound could stop aching.

Millimetre by millimetre Neji adusted his posture, one from which he could launch an onslaught as well as engage his divination – the fact that it was easier on his likely cracked rib and let him shake off more shuriken was purely coincidental.  
Sasuke tried concentrating as much chakra in his lungs as he could get away with under the scrutiny of the Byakugan, ready to spit fire, the low levels of chakra in his system absolutely and without a doubt a deliberate act of subterfuge.  
Chouji regretted his heavy second breakfast.  
The standoff was broken only by a figure in green lurching back into the clearing.

Sasuke has never seen Lee so… relaxed. Neji has. His Byakugan quickly scanned the crater he made among the boxes, and their contents. The quiet panic on his face was clue enough for Sasuke to get that something was very wrong.

Lee took another step forward and fell straight on his face. Then he got up, stumbled, rolled wile laughing, and he was up again. He finished off the movements with a set of karate chops to the air, yells and giggling that would have made even Maito Gai cringe. He finally looked over to the locked pair of fighters and pointed at them, eyes crossed.  
"Oi! That'sh _borin_ ' just st'ring outta your heads like that you know. " A small hiccup broke his train of thought. "Let's do s'mthing fun, **ya bashtardsh**!"

Charging into a staring contest between a Byakugan and Sharingan user is downright idiotic and it's something that's bound to result in some considerable unpleasantness for you. That is, of course the conventional wisdom and accumulated experience of any third parties – you never fought an Uchiha alone and you always fought a Hyuuga ranged. None of the people who have attempted to do either, never mind both at once have been drunk as they did it, however neither have they been naturally gifted practitioners of a very special fighting style.  
It is safe to say that conventional wisdom was not the most important factor in the events that followed.

Sasuke had no time to consider how silly it was that the awaited return of his teammate only got him another enemy to fight. He's gotten a good estimate of the area around the Hyuuga that would be a bad idea to enter and did his best to stay out of it – and saw Lee barge right in, slap aside Neji's barrage of Gentle Fist Strikes while singing to himself, kick the genius in his hind end then bound away before his Kaiten had a chance to touch him.

Even Sasuke struggled to keep up with Lee. His newfound zeal after recovery had to reflect in his training, because despite his own intensive conditioning with Kakashi, the gap he had closed between the two of them has re-opened and was as wide as ever. The movements were different too. It was not the conventional, if belaboured style that he's come to expect from Lee and there was an entirely different dynamism to his moves. His limbs and upper body seemed to be almost dragged by his lower torso, his direction seemed to shift time and time again. Strikes he'd expected faltered mid-motion, only to be followed up by frankly ridiculous kicks, slaps and punches that still hurt like hell. The heavy tug his ears have gotten was no joking matter either, and if Naruto ever told anyone about the wedgie Sasuke swore he would hunt him down.

By the skin of his teeth and using a fortunate tumble from Lee, Sasuke danced away and let the crazed menace attack Hyuuga for a change. Grunting, dodging and trying to protect his side, Neji called out. Amongst the flurry of obscene punches and Lee pulling Neji's hair Sasuke barely heard him, but enough to piece together the message.

"…alcohol!" A lean to the side and an attempted jab to the throat. "… goes mental… Gai-sensei… natural genius, but unstable! … got to work together!"

Sasuke had to laugh. This was pure nonsense, but then again these days that seemed to be the norm. At least this provided an interesting way of testing himself as a combatant and ninja. He was out of weapons and his arm was still slack, but the one thing an Uchiha never ran out of was fire. Sasuke concentrated, drawing on the remnants of his chakra reserves.

Noting the growth of energy in the Uchiha's system, Neji relaxed a little. Truth be told, the only other time something like this happened all he did was assist Gai-sensei and try to protect Tenten; this time even with Uchiha's assistance it would be more difficult to subdue Lee until the drink wore off. It would be useful to have someone more accustomed to fighting in the traditional style face Lee – the Gentle Fist was deadly to most ninja, but had only limited effect on someone who did not rely on chakra. With someone to take point however he could strike at his joints with less to worry about and weaken him enough to completely collapse, end his rampage. The predictive skills of the Sharingan would make it easier for Uchiha to tie Lee up while he was at it, and as some of the clearer minds around, Neji had no doubt that the two of them could coope-

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower!" Small but rapid fireballs whizzed right at the fighting duo. Neji couldn't fully avoid the bursts of flames aimed at them and took several of the blasts head on, as did Lee. One of the big advantages of Gai-sensei's horrible jumpers however, it turned out, was a remarkable resistance to fire, which could not be said about Neji's jacket.  
The Hyuuga was caught between still having to fend off the attacks of Lee and trying to hurriedly put out the fire spreading on his clothes, which gave Sasuke precisely the opening he looked for. While he was busy Uchiha leapt, got past Lee with a mid-air twist and used his momentum to punch Neji in the face at full strength. The genius went down unceremoniously.

"Yeah… sorry."  
Ninja were not known for playing fair or honourably, and he wanted to fight the drunk Lee head on. This ought to be good practice, after all.

* * *

The green and blue figures fought on and chased each other into the forest, leaving the white one collapsed against a tree. At least the fire seemed to be out.  
"Sasuke, you asshole!" The Naruto clone yelled after his teammate in vain. Chouji had finally stopped being sick. He splashed some water at his face and rolled onto his back.

"Ow, my head." He finally focused and looked up properly. "Naruto?"

"Uh, I'm just a clone actually." He extended a hand, and pulled Chouji on his feet. "The real one's not around. Uh, you okay enough to help check on Neji?" He added when the genin trembled in his step. "I don't think there's much point of fighting anymore, but you might need help getting him outta here."

"Sure, sure I can, don't worry about it. It's just... weird, the side effect of the technique." He looked at his unusually thin arms.  
Slowly they walked towards the collapsed figure, with Chouji still visibly out of it. Still, he seemed to shake off his tiredness when he saw how his partner did, getting one of Neji's arms around his neck, same as the clone.

"You missed a hell of a fight." The clone grunted as they took off, taking the poor Neji along with them. His injuries did not seem too bad, but Naruto would be a terrible chuunin if he let the conditions of the mock exam override his duties. And for all he did wrong, spurned by injustices against the Branch Family, Hinata still considered him a brother, and Naruto would have not only been a bad chuunin, but a bad friend to both if he just left him in danger like that. "I just wish I could have done more, you know, show off like you did!"

"Show off like me? All I remember is trying to get out of that move."

"It was awesome! You spun Lee around like, well, someone spinning something really fast. Like a big yo-yo, y'know? And that huge arm thing was cool!" The chuunin's attitude broke for a second, giving way to Naruto's more natural eagerness and energy.

"Thanks, I suppose." Choui adjusted his hold on the passed out Neji, and looked at his arms. They were dirty, scratched up and still trembling. "It was still not fast enough, though. I was supposed to take out all of the clones, either with it or the Meat Tank. Err, sorry about that."

"Nah, never mind. We get way worse stuff. But how did you kno- aaah, I got it! Neji must have seen us with his Byakugan, right? Because all the clones have the same chakra level, he could tell it was Naruto or clones of him. Me. Us. You know."

A small flicker of surprise crossed Choui's face. He was not one to judge others and had enough of being put down by mean people to sympathize but answering his own question like that, with a technical detail of a jutsu was not like Naruto at all. His self-satisfied grin at having done it was more familiar, as was the earlier burst, but it was still strange to see him like this. He never used to be quite this… focused?

"So" The Akimichi set aside his wondering, more focused on the task at hand. "are you sure you want to help me? We are on enemy teams after all."

"Eh, if we're the first there we'll call it a draw. This team was only supposed to hold ya up anyway, but then this whole mess happened and you might need help getting Neji to safety." Naruto mentioned off-handed, in a way that made Chouji worry for the sole remaining group, with Shikamaru. He was farily sure he could take out the clone, leave Neji behind and rush back to help his friend... but that would not have been the right way.

Sometimes being underhanded paid off. But sometimes taking the time to be decent got people you were meant to fight to help you along, and resolve your differences.

* * *

 _Around the same time, in some location beyond the Land of Fire_

* * *

The atmosphere in the main base has been tense lately.  
Even the prisoners felt it. In-fighting was up and the injuries caused were more severe. They knew better than to riot, but the pressure made them jumpier. The increased drive to build up forces had not helped either. The guards and the armed forces were subjected to cruel forbidden techniques to secure their loyalties and increase their strength, and they often took out their frustration on the captives.

Both regular Sound shinobi and the prisoners were being taken in increasing numbers to be given the Cursed Mark. Few of them ever returned and those who did were crueller, scarier. Their behaviour frightened some, cowed others and made a few thirsty for any opportunity to be noticed and given the same chance.

The upper ranks were sweating even harder. The four favourites of Orochimaru, sent to secure the new vessel formidable enough to contain him, the figures feared and all but worshipped for their mastery of their Cure Marks, the heroes who helped the head of the Sound remove one of the Five Great Kage, they were just gone. Wiped away like nothing had happened, with the fifth dying in bed. Their demise of course meant opportunity, but likewise peril, scrutiny and a chance to face whatever turned those four from legends into a mere footnote of the coming war.

And a war was coming, a big one, already exerting its pressure, already windip up the countries, already sharpening the knives that were in greater and greater demand. Gearing up the growing army for it was a logistical nightmare. Buy from a supplier in big enough quantities or frequently enough, and you might as well just announce to the whole continent where the hideout is. Fortify a location with a single misstep and you invite more S-rank jutsu thrown at the error than you can count, and if you make just one move too soon, the great villages, perhaps even the Elemental Nations proper will set aside their petty squabbling to put you out of their misery. Just keeping all the bases fed and still hidden has become a huge headache.

Kabuto was really growing sick of rice cakes.  
Say what you will of the Land of Fire, but at least there was some damn variety in what you could have.

This was a tiresome period. His beloved experiments in the labs were made to wait, some even to the point of ruination as he had to take over aspects of the day to day operation of the Sound. Lord Orochimaru has waited a long, long time in vain hope that his elite guard would bring him his prize and taking the time took its toll on his body. The scouts eventually sent out had confirmed that they never got anywhere near the border whether they had the Uchiha or not, and a report had made it to his ears that a miscalculation in his timing and a few odd circumstances meant that the other Sannin, who should have been well out of a range from which he could interfere, was in fact right in the village and put a short end to the excursion.  
Orochimaru-sama has not taken that news well.

A carrier pigeon flapped its wings loudly as it landed on a perch. It's been a rewarding side project, breeding for the right characteristics and teaching them how to navigate the cave systems and avoid the traps. The payoff was not having to maintain a separate and insecure line of communication and thanks to the expansive cave system, hugely misleading anyone following the bird, likely to their deaths.  
He took the message off the bird, read it, and went a bit pale. That mission failing was one thing. This was quite another.

He navigated the passages in a hurry, footsteps ringing out on the marble floor. Only the final door had managed to slow him down – no one who was given it dared make a mistake in knocking in the correct sequence. After an extremely careful series of knocks, he entered the room of his master without a word.

Orochimaru's private room was not what most would expect. The main hall of course had an imposing throne made of ivory and steel, beset with diamonds, surrounded by guards and beautiful women playing harps that could snare any intruder in genjutsu, with the hall itself decorated with grand paintings and held up by carved, snake-like columns. Further inside there was a suitable, lower key meeting room full of files, maps and all the cloak and dagger props one might wish for. Visitors and inhabitants alike would typically be impressed by either and be fulfilled in the belief that the leader of the Sound was indeed the powerful and crafty man they'd thought him to be. As such they fulfilled precisely what they were built for.

Equally functional, and much more austere was Orochimaru's private abode. There was a small, narrow bed by the wall and a small shelf beside it filled with all manner of pills and medications prepared by Kabuto himself to help him get accustomed to his new body, recover from the over-long wait. The bookcase and shelf full of scrolls might not have been as immediately impressive as the library, but there were enough forbidden techniques and hushed secrets contained in them that just knowing about its location would have put you in the upper ranks of the Elemental Nations' most wanted list. Knowing what was in the jars on the shelves that lined the walls and how they were made would have earned your very own ANBU hunter trying to find your traces.

And finally, sitting in a simple wooden chair by a wooden desk and reading through an ancient, but most definitely dustless tome, the man himself.

"Ah, Kabuto, good of you to come by. I will need you to tend to Sample Seventeen." The medical professional overrode any other personae Kabuto might have entertained for the moment; he was relieved his master finally spoke in his own voice, a good sign the body was finally yielding.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto bowed. "However there is another matter. One of our sources in the Leaf has informed us that the Four were not all killed as we assumed."

"I suppose favours are to be paid back at the earliest opportunities." Turning a page, Orochimaru was still yet to look up. "Have they sought refuge?"

"No, sir." Kabuto knew better than to let Orochimaru-sama catch any emotional investment on his part, because as he put it, such luxuries were not afforded for the position he was in, be it the role of either commander, medic or one of his top scientists. Unfortunately this included simple fear for delivering ill news as well. "Your… former comrade has successfully captured two of them and killed only two. We have no confirmation on the status of Tayuya, however we do know of examinations carried out on the body of Jirobo and a series of live experiments on Kidomaru."

"Trying to figure out my secrets, old friend?" Orochimaru smiled quietly. "He will not get anywhere that is not obvious. Still… do we know what they've discovered? What information did they prune out of the two captives? Are they in a location where they can be disposed of?"

"It appears that there have been some complications, sir. It was uncovered that to render Kidomaru docile enough for the experiment they used a form of genjutsu…" Kabuto began his explanation

"…which provoked one of our little failsafe techniques, yes?" And the man who designed such techniques, of course, finished it for him.

"Yes, sir. It was the Summoner's Revenge technique, activated once sufficient chakra welled up in the body. To contain it a variety of fire techniques were used, but the fire caught on and destroyed most of the equipment. There were no copies made of the findings, and the originals were handled very privately. What we do know is because some of the summoned spiders could escape through the ventilation system and sought out the nearest trusted person."

"Who did not mind taking some time examining it, I am sure. Kabuto, prepare a minor reshuffle of our outposts in case anything sensitive got to the Leaf. What else did we learn?" A page turned again, but Kabuto still felt the pressure of his master's attention mostly on him.

"Nothing, sir. Information, apparently, is hard to come by. Many of the old reliable channels have been shut down."

"Our source will just have to work a bit harder, then. Send back a warning that a meagre scrap like that is insufficient to offset what was owed. Should there be a suitable answer to my questions and some hard, reliable data, then it shall be counted off."

"Yes, sir." Kabuto hesitated. Compared to his rage when the Uchiha has not shown up, Orochimaru-sama was taking this news practically in stride, despite knowing how much could have been endangered by the captures. And there was one more bit of information that could set him off. "Sir, there is something more, from our own scouts stationed near Konoha. As you predicted, the Uchiha and the rest of his cohort underwent a training period, but they might be soon trusted to go on missions. Our information is that they are expected to go without so much as their jounin. Should I assemble a detail to hunt them down?"

"No need, Kabuto. It was… upsetting and a terrible waste of an opportunity when the Four failed to deliver the child to me. But it is gone now and another attempt will have to be prepared appropriately. It is no good to simply take him now. He will come to me in time because he has no other way, and he has to realise that to be the vessel I need. He was wound up and ready to snap – just the right push in the right way at the right time could have brought him to us. That tension was wasted and the energy is now expelled. It will be some time before enough is gathered again to work with, and we have much to do in the meantime. The old schedule is what we are working with."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

 **AN:**

A note on the Neji v Sasuke fight.

This was one of the most hyped up possible matches in the series since the first time the two have met, and not having it before Sasuke dropped regular combat for using a transparent purple skeletal chakra gundam is one of the more sore spots I have. One thing to perhaps explain about the fight is Sasuke's ability to partially see through the movements of the technique. Fistly, Sasuke did see through Haku dashing about between mirrors, demonstrating that the perception angle, even with just two tomoe, is not really the problem he'd have. Secondly let's be honest, the Sharingan giving suspiciously convenient boosts to the user is a hallmark of the series, and pattern recognition was long established as its 'thing' anyway.

The other, perhaps more important factor is Neji's mindset. Chakra in general has a mental aspect to it, and I got the feeling that the Byakugan and Gentle Fist especially depend on clarity, peace of mind and focus, which is something not all that easily reached when you have just discarded your entire old view of morality and of the world. Much like how I always thought Hinata's quest to reforge herself as someone strong, someone she'd be happy about being, was regrettably underused, the same goes to Neji even stronger. The mind, once stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions, as the saying goes, but such a process should take time and commitment, for which there is always a price. For every ridiculously convenient boon the Sharingan grants to its user, equally and more importantly not even Neji's natural genius could quite completely make up for the difference his still forming new mental clarity made.


	10. Winded

**Chapter 9 - Winded**

The tower at the centre of the forest creaked with age, worn out by the constant onslaught of wind this high over the protection of the trees. Shikamaru felt some kinship to it. If people could make but a single noise to express themselves with, he'd opt for that tired groan of wood under pressure.

He stared at the map of the forest, considering the options, sitting alone in the room they designated as temporary HQ, wondering just what the hell happened to empty it out so quickly.  
At least the answer to that was obvious. Naruto happened. Just like that card game before their training, even during the few attempted shougi games, it was both much too easy and next to impossible to predict, and plan for the guy.  
Shikamaru was no fool, he knew perfectly well what was going on - Naruto's objective may have been to get the scroll across, but whether he recognised the tactical situation or just thought it was more fun that way, he opted for the engagements, depriving Shikamaru of forcing them out of him on his grounds.

Incidentally there went the vast majority of plans he'd drawn up, and most of the preparation time. Not that he hadn't expected something ridiculous out of him - the first idea to pop to mind was measures against burrowing under the whole forest, and hoping very hard he'd make it through the day without seeing a gigantic toad - but this milder form of outrageous tactics made his job a lot harder.

Yet more unlike a game, once he dispatched his people, once they were outside Ino's limited range, there was nothing he could do for them. A knight you can move about wildly on the board, always with a perfect picture of the situation, always perfectly capable of issuing your next order, but here, decisions were delayed at best, all the pieces of the game thought for themselves, which, he now slowly realised, he had failed to account for.

Everyone seemed to expect him to have the perfect plans, and what's worse, he did. But for all the lessons of tactics, all the mental exercises, analyses of historical battles, formations, even Kakashi's probing of how he'd treat his troops, when it came to actual combat, he always had the idea that things would go ahead more or less according to plan. He's never seen the difference between the board and the field an intrusive reality makes, never felt that loss of grip when his team broke up - and as annoying as this experience was right now, he was happy it happened in the confines of a mock mission, not where it would matter.

Not that such a welcome lesson would stop him from trying to win this. He recalled the times Chouji, Kiba, Naruto and him escaped from detention, the few games they'd play and the ridiculous new rules Naruto would invent on the fly - as troublesome as ever, if admittedly more fun than the regular kicking a ball around they'd have without him. And now, if Naruto has seen to it that he'd get some trouble his way, the least he could do was payback.

The rules of the game changed, even if its goal had not, and when it came down to it, he'd have to trust his people, maybe even expect them next time to chime in. It was up to them now to get things done, and if the last month has done anything, it had everyone step up - even, or rather especially Ino, now keeping lookout with Neji gone. Clan jutsu and training with Kurenai, fuelled by rivalry against 'Billboard Brow' was making her a scary presence, and telling her to step down instead of going to fight Sakura was more difficult than it had any right to be.  
He could feel it even on himself, which he blamed entirely on Naruto. They just got promoted, yet there he was, harder at work than ever before, making Shikamaru's wish to enjoy life a bit, rest on his laurels more trouble than they were worth - seeing Naruto push ahead, he too felt that annoying, persistent niggle to not let himself be left behind. The jounin seemed fishy about that too; they could have just trained them separately, and switch when needed, but Asuma seemed all too happy to have Naruto around to bother Shikamaru, even if it meant regular Wind element training.

So he got to it himself, if reluctantly, getting his father to run him through the techniques he's been avoiding having to master, switching the dodging of his mother's chores to her shuriken, doing his best and groaning like wood under pressure all the while.

"Troublesome." He scratched his chin, dismissing a mental scenario. He didn't know Naruto's limit, but even he couldn't have THAT many clones. It should work, if it came down to it, and he was sure it would. Naruto, difficult as he was to predict sometimes, was also ridiculously easy to predict in others and it didn't take much to know if he'd get this thing to culminate in a showdown of chuunin against chuunin. The only question was how. "Are you seeing anything, Ino?"

"Nothing so far. Ah, this is no fun! I'd hoped to impress Sasuke-kun, and here I am stuck in the middle of this filthy place again, bored to death." Risking another splitting headache, Ino tried once more to use the chakra sensory abilities that allegedly naturally developed as a Yamanaka came to master their mental jutsu, to no avail. "If there IS a third group like you said, what if they just ran into one of the traps? We spent enough time setting up those… things, they better pay off, right?"

"Unlikely. They make for a good place to push enemies to, but on their own I don't think they'd run into them." Shikamaru yelled back. "Not with the plan I think he'd form anyway. Think of the traps as a fall-back measure."

"A fall-back-measure?! You are one to talk, you didn't have to load them up in the nets! It was hard, disgusting work, you conveniently excused yourself from, so this better be worth it! And don't even get me started on the other stuff!" Sage, she was almost as bad sometimes as his mother, Shikamaru considered. Well, not quite as scary just yet, but he could spot the signs already.

"Ino, you know I had to work out the plans." He tried to pacify her. "Besides I showed you the rulebook. Officers don't do manual labour."

"That doesn't apply now, and you _weren't_ an officer all the other times you came up with an excuse not to… bah!" Her annoyance could be heard even from her perching spot somewhere up on the roof. "If you insist on squatting back here while the rest fight and we are not doing anything productive anyway, you could have told me earlier. I'd have brought my swimwear, enjoyed the sun and swam in the river, gave the boys something nice to loo-"

"That's it!"

"Pervert!"

"What? No!" Shikamaru knocked over the table and the map as he hurriedly got up, sticking his head out of the nearest window. A single question that has been occupying his attention suddenly came to a focus clear as crystal - or water. "The river! We trapped up the forest, but didn't do anything about the river! Quick, what do we have?"

* * *

Half-running, half-skating on the water, Naruto and Hinata were making good progress, and he was feeling mighty happy about that. Why the hell didn't he learn water-walking before entering the exams? It was ridiculous how useful these skills were, how many options that he could smell wouldn't occur to a genius mind preoccupied with deep tactics it presented.  
Oh, ideally, the two teams should have drawn away opposition and cleared the way for them, but Naruto's gut told him otherwise. There was fighting to be had ahead, and he for one could barely wait. The clones' memories seemed to confirm this much; neither side has run into Shikamaru or Ino in combat.

They were getting closer and closer to the tower at the centre of the forest, and Naruto would have bet a month's ramen supply that that was where Shikamaru had set up. Planning with that in mind and relying on Hinata to point out what obstacles could the Byakugan not penetrate at that distance certainly seemed to work, given that they were not surrounded yet.

The tower loomed far above everything else, its shade and possibly the more intense fighting among desperate genin thinned out the trees around it, with the occasional overgrown crater still visible. The river too seems to have gotten affected by all the jutsu thrown around: it waded deeper into the soil and created small cliffs on the side, the course of the water developed bends and sharp turns around large stones that really had no business being where they were.  
The last trap they've spotted in the forest was now long behind them, the leeches eventually being replaced by a lot of explosive tags, old fashioned bear traps, even some simple rope arrangements. With a wave of embarrassment Naruto realised that bragging to Shikamaru about how he used the storage scrolls in combat was not the best idea. Most people tended to just rely on them for convenience purposes, and come to think of it Shikamaru did look unusually interested when he mentioned that.

"Argh, he got the whole setup and everything!" Naruto moaned. How was he supposed to know he'd used up several months' supply, or that the things were so damn expensive? He barely even scorched Sasuke to boot. At least the fight was fun, and so would this one if only the lazy ass bothered to show up. Naruto almost felt giddy, waiting on someone to make the first move.

"Where could he be? Come on, Hinata!" He yelled to the girl following him. Again she reacted in that strange way of hers, but when she did look up at him and nodded, there was the same eagerness in her eyes, back to normal now that Neji was safely away checking only periodically, probably to preserve her chakra . "I can't wait to see what Shikamaru's got planned! I bet he's got all kindsa plans and jutsu and-"

"Naruto-kun! Ahead! Jump!"

Perhaps turning his head to look at her while talking was not such a good idea. Awkwardly jumping to the air, he twisted to the side and landed on the near vertical rock wall the river had carved into the landscape. Eyes snapping onto the approaching danger, he found himself surprised, and somewhat nostalgic.

The first one was clearly the neatest and the proudest little thing, ahead of the rest. A distinctive shape known by even someone with as marred a childhood as Naruto had, the folded paper ship merrily made its way downstream. The only fly in the ointment was that it was folded out of several explosive tags. As was the whole fleet of approaching behind it, turning the waves white with their sheer mass, ships and hastily thrown in simple tags being swept along, heading right for them.

Worse yet was that Hinata did not seem to have time to jump away herself. By the time Naruto got to the rock face at the river's edge, she already dodged away from the first ship, and found herself surrounded by the fleet. Her usual and unexplainable reluctance to use her Byakugan gone, she was doing her best to avoid the oncoming mass of paper, with moves that made Naruto's taijutsu moves, improvements or no, seem like an academy student.  
More dancing than merely walking on the water's surface and unlike her hesitant moves while they were practicing together, she spun and stepped with a grace he's never seen anything possess, directing the flow of water around her, guiding the volatile paper ships around and away. Naruto had to shake his head to break out of just watching her and looked further ahead.

What he'd thought to be the main body of the paper mess seemed to be the initial lot only. Shikamaru must have either gotten more storage scrolls than he has, become much better at using them or found some supplies in the tower itself, but whichever the case, trouble was coming. And while once more he found himself amazed at Hinata's skills, on closer inspection it became clear that she was struggling to keep up. If it was chakra she used to guide the ships or simply the waves he did not know, but her control of whichever was faltering, she was clearly finding it more and more difficult to guide them away properly, but still gently enough not to set them off. Her movements lost their fluidity and precision as she began to panic, a pale face growing even whiter at the realisation of danger she was in.

Naruto was having none of that. Vowing that he'd properly kick Shikamaru's ass for his recklessness, he pumped his legs and arms full of chakra, concentrated and leapt ahead. This was a simple matter of precision, control and coordination, with no room for a mistake. He didn't let himself consider how much he now knew he was still to learn about all of that, and decided to just leap ahead, do it instead.

"Hinata!" His yell sounded a split second before he jumped. The weeks spent together in practice paid dividends now, with his gut he knew precisely how and how fast she'd react, following his move with her vision. Like trained acrobats their hands clasped into each other as he turned his momentum into an aerial somersault and with an extra shot of chakra in his arms, he flung her up and to the other side of the river, trusting her to sort out the landing.

Still in the air but momentum lost, he had a fraction of a second to think about his next move. His eye darted around, away from the river full of tags underneath him and to the side – but the trees were all too far to get a rope or wire on them. The river brimming with paper was getting closer and closer.  
He'd have to use that technique. He still hasn't gotten the control perfectly, but right now that was no matter. He concentrated and let the vision of the technique fill his mind instead of the mess it was to get him out of. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs to full capacity with air and chakra.

The hand seals, always a mess to remember, now practically performed themselves.  
"Wind Release: Vortex Cannon!"

* * *

 _Flashback:_

* * *

Naruto flew rapidly across the training field, crashing into a tree. Opening his eyes again, he saw a disappointed jounin look down at him, cigarette in the corner of his mouth already showering him lightly with ash.

"Ow, that hurt, y'know?" The impact had knocked the air out of him, he could barely speak. The jutsu was worth it, though.

"What did I tell you about control?" Asuma fumed. "Creating wind chakra is one thing, you have to visualise it right, control it right and release it right. Get one of the components wrong and his is what happens!"

"Sasuke –ow– never had to concentrate so hard to make one of those fireballs." Naruto groaned like Shikamaru, rolled over and slowly tried to get up to all fours.

"That is because learning it is a rite of passage for his clan, he likely has years of experience with it. And his control is still far above yours." Asuma stubbed out his cigarette on the wreckage of the tree. "You don't want to know how much digging it took to find a jutsu fit for your… particular situation either. I had to call in some big favours, is all I'm going to say, so the least you can do is live up to the expectations and use it well."

Naruto focused on regaining control over his breathing. The technique was not exactly easy on the lungs – though his sinuses have never felt this clean before. He gathered his wits again and planted his feet firmly.  
"I've mastered… other difficult techniques, and I've done it in record time! Watch me sensei and don't blink because I'm about to pull this off perfectly this time!" He announced with a final grin, earning an approving puff of smoke after Asuma lit his next cigarette. Almost like the Third would have done, a stray thought voiced in the back of his head.

The technique, as Asuma had put it, was the perfect tool for him to learn the element further. Most other powerful Wind jutsu, he was told, required a certain amount of finesse and refinement of control that would take him months, maybe years to acquire. Neither he nor the village could afford him just cutting away endlessly at the waterfall and Kakashi-sensei still vetoed letting him use clones on that one, so Asuma spent the better part of a week trying to find him something suitable in various archives, and that he did. This technique was more primal, receptive of masses of raw wind chakra but versatile and flexible.

Not that long after his fight against Gaara and the monster of sand, being on the other end of an air blasting jutsu was an odd experience. He still recalled just the graze of the fierce wind they barely avoided with Gamabunta, and now he was making some of his own. That was, he decided, much more fun. The technique responded especially well to visualisation and shape control skills – if you were clear enough in your mind what you wanted and were good enough to shape the thing, it could be anything from a blasting wide gaze to a tiny but fierce ring of piercing wind. And to boot, it was a mid-to-long range technique, something Naruto lacked almost entirely. But the chakra demands for it were immense, even for Naruto. No clones could perform it if he had more than a few active, and the blow-back was, as his aching back once more evidenced, one hell of a thing to deal with.

But none of that mattered. This was the first elemental technique he set out to learn, and he was going to make it work.

Naruto concentrated. Like before, instead of turning to the masses of chakra roaring inside, he had to take but a tiny measure, attune it to the element and build it up. In his mind the idea of the jutsu flared up, the rotations familiar from the Rasengan, arranged in a simpler way, but one leaving his system and continuing independently. A vortex, now a term he properly learned, a concept he held an actual grasp of, and the forces creating it all coiled up in his lungs, all he'd have to do is give it form, power and direction.

The air welled up more and more, the chakra's inherent wind nature making it far more potent than any normal gust.  
Resisting the urge to just release it, he methodically went through with the correct sequence of hand seals, practiced over and over again.  
"Wind Release: Vortex Cannon!"

* * *

The technique burst out with all the force he could muster, a massive ring of wind blasting ahead and launching him in the opposite direction. It worked, he managed to think as he flew backwards again, safely away from the tags - except that the jutsu proper hit the tags with tremendous force, enough to set them all off.  
The next second was ruled by the clashing forces of wind, fire and water, and as soon as he had ground under his feet, Naruto scrambled to get out of the way of whatever inferno or stirred up storm would be behind him. He'd have failed if not for a pair of small but surprisingly strong hands grabbing him and pulling him to the side, behind the cover of a tree and away from the boiling mass of water sweeping over the trees.

Wheezing and fighting off dizziness, Naruto looked up.  
"Phew. Thanks for the rescue, Hinata! You're awesome!"

Naruto worried briefly if some of the water got to her and scalded her, but it was just her normal habit of turning red when he said something. By now he was getting confident that it meant something good, but it was still wildly unpredictable. Maybe he ought to ask Ero-sennin or Kakashi-sensei about it sometime? Girls were even more of a baffling mystery than the most complex of jutsu, and with those he could always just try, try and try again. He really did not want to mess up here, he could tell something about that would be very wrong.

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun." She mumbled in a small voice. "Um, I don't think we will be able to quietly slip by them now."

"That's just fine by me, I never meant to!" Naruto laughed. "Now let's go and kick us some genius ass!"  
As he said that, however, before she had time to feel embarrassed, the smile on his face froze, the hairs in the back of his neck rose, and something out of the ordinary caught the corner of his eye.

The training of the past month has done much to Naruto's skills. The primary goal was to brush up his fundamental skills and martial abilities – and with the help of two jounin and Hinata he has made great strides, but that was not his sole advancement. Even the elemental training simply added another tool to use. The most crucial change was that while there was nothing that could cure his temperament, Kakashi at least made the utmost effort to let him back that up, not by strength but simply by keeping his damn eyes open, to recognise signs the world around him offered.  
The forest was the same place as always, but the chuunin traversing it cast more keen eyes at it than the genin not that long ago. Corners he'd be wary of before he could recognise as harmless, and thanks to some gruelling afternoons trying to shake off a pack of hounds, he's grown much more apt at recognising approaching danger as well.

Hinata's Byakugan sprang into action as she noticed the change in his expression. With a barely perceptible nod she confirmed what he saw, an exchange of glances assigned the proper roles. A few minutes of talking while waiting for the others to start moving made all the difference now.  
A split second before the shadow sneaking its way towards them made contact, they bound away in opposite directions.

Shikamaru groaned as he split the advancing shadow into two distinct ones. He just spent a month being bothered by his father and not one but two jounin to increase the range and speed of his technique, but by the time he got there everyone was faster at avoiding them too. What was the point?

"Now, Hinata!" The orange spot he could barely follow with his eye, never mind his shadow came to an awkward halt at one end of the field, and took out a handful of spherical objects.

"Right!" A white figure at the other did the same. Shikamaru wasn't happy about the move they were making, but they got too far for him to stand a chance stopping them and in the long run it could turn out to his advantage.

Given he was fighting a Hyuuga, the smoke bombs the enemy team dropped did not come at a surprise. It had to be the good stuff too, thick and able to cover a large area for quite a while. Annoyingly though he no longer had a Hyuuga's eyes to see and direct his own team – or an Izunuka's nose, or an Aburame's insects. He had a way of dealing with the situation nonetheless, but the chakra requirement for it was ridiculous.

There was silence in the cloud, giving Shikamaru a hearbeat's time to figure out what Naruto would try to do. Aided by the Byakugan two could easily take Shikamaru down, then either run for it while Ino took care of him or knock her out as well. But using the advantage of numbers, beyond clones, for a mock fight didn't seem very 'Naruto', did it? He'd want to fight chuunin to chuunin and let his support take care of Shikamaru's. Not exactly the most practical of choices at first glance but Shikamaru knew that Ino has been bragging a lot about her abilities, which no doubt got to Sakura's and therefore Naruto's ears. With the way the Konoha rumour mill worked, even on their level, he'd have to make sure she was taken care of in case she had whatever high level Yamanaka mind messing jutsu he imagined, and the Hyuuga had a better chance of finding her in the smoke.

But that also meant Shikamaru had a small window of opportunity where both him and Naruto would be practically blinded in the cloud – and while Naruto needed sight to make his moves connect, Shikamaru didn't.

"You sure that was such a good idea, Naruto?" Shikamaru called out. He didn't feel particularly good about it, but it was time to bait Naruto, goad him into attacking, preferably with his real body. "We are both blinded here." He said, and struck out in a random direction with his shadow. No contact. "But you cannot make an attack without coming to close range, and the minute you do that is when my shadow will get you."

"You don't know until you try!" A voice got closer at some speed, and Shikamaru barely dodged the incoming punch. He's gotten faster since their last spar. At his counter-attack there was a loud pop and the body trapped by shadow disappeared. An obnoxious laughter came from somewhere in the cloud.

Shikamaru concentrated. He had to take time to gather chakra for what he had in mind, especially taking account to the who knows how many clones now doubtless in the smoke. But he also had to keep Naruto occupied and hope like hell Ino could take that Hyuuga girl. At least, knowing his enemy there was little chance they've snuck away. This fight would doubtless prove, well...

"Troublesome." He groaned as he began the tentative probing of his environment with shadows, wondering what, besides bad-mouthing ramen, he could say to Naruto to piss him off.

* * *

Ino knew she was no close range fighter.

She could do her part, but that tended to consist of the mind switch technique and under these conditions there was little chance of that skill becoming useful. Where was that damn Kiba the one time he could prove useful? Relying on her hearing as much as she could, she tried to pinpoint her opponent's movements and wished she got far enough with sensory techniques, or at least the mind-link to coordinate with Shikamaru in the middle of battle.  
But she didn't and all she had now was basic training and a couple of kunai. If Shikamaru was correct, against a taijutsu specialist.

Ear poised, she listened to footsteps, keeping in mind the basics of evasion and sound she'd learned from Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei.  
Approaching from the left, came Hinata, as silent as Kurenai's pupil would be - but making a misstep with nervousness on a crater's edge, granting Ino time enough to avoid the worst of her Gentle Fist and graze her with the kunai.

It was funny; she'd teased Shikamaru about giving the boys something to look at, and then not much later she was in a textbook catfight, with no one to watch. The whole thing made her wonder what the hell is wrong with boys if they did like watching this sort of thing to begin with – certainly when she managed to score a hit with the kunai against Hinata, her yelp was simply sad and pained.

The rhythm of the fighting was dictated by her opponent, with Ino having but a few seconds to react to each attack. She may not have been a specialist, but she was not defenceless, not if she could do anything about it. Strike and dodge, side-step and counter-strike, deflected the bones in her shoulder now ached. Ino knew well enough her opponent wasn't someone on the level of Sasuke or Neji, that she was no genius with her kekkei genkai, but right now that didn't make things easier. The way to win here, she decided, was to fight like a shinobi, not as a martial artist.

She needed to use every morsel of hesitation shown by Hinata, and as the seconds passed and she got her chances to observe her opponent, thankfully she saw the openings she was looking for, same as before graduation. She barely knew the girl back at the Academy, even though she was supposed to be one of the one of the better taijutsu users. Kurenai-sensei spoke highly of her whole team, but during a date with Asuma-sensei Ino just so happened to accidentally listen in to not long after graduation, she mentioned her worries about the Hyuuga would-be-heir.

And it was the very same genutsu user who had taught Ino to look for weaknesses of the enemy's will. All she'd have to do was help along Hinata's tendency to collapse, lose focus and panic at the critical moment and there was no amount of raw skill in the world that would help her win their battle.

Coming from above, Ino barely ducked away from the open palm strike. Hinata's face was drawn together in focus, her eyes wide and the veins around it bulging with chakra or blood. Her thick, terribly unfashionable jacket had a few spots of blood on it alongside the tear she's made, but otherwise it has done a good job of shielding its owner from blows. Not in the least what a kunoichi should be like, in Ino's view.

"My, my, aren't we being the little firebrand today? Stop pretending, we both know how this is going to end."  
An onslaught by the dark-haired girl was interrupted, enough for Ino to kick Hinata in the leg and get out of the way, but it was a close call. Still, it was working, Hyuuga's moves seemed to be slipping up.

A pirouette barely spared her from another Gentle Fist attack. How the hell did you defend yourself from those? Ino found herself wishing that Neji guy wasn't so scary or at least was receptive to flirting, she could have asked him for some pointers then. She attempted another stab but all she hit was air.

"Come on, how long will you try to keep this up? I've had a look at your file, you know, Shikamaru lets me look at stuff genin aren't allowed to see." She lied. "Always messing up, a complete failure, and now too you will do the exact same thing. Time and time again. Remember how quiet you were in the Academy? All the girls chased after Sasuke but you wouldn't even do that much. You are yet to grow a spine, my dear."

She'd tried her best to imitate the delivery of some of the nastier insults that people she just so happened to overhear around town. It was probably not her best performance and she made it up on the fly against someone she barely knew, but against the little wallflower it was bound to stick. She'd react, give something for Ino to follow up on and fall apart enough to weaken her defences.  
At that point a successful attack would bring her down. Ino felt a bit cruel, but it's hardly as if the fight was a fair one.

"Not that I blame you, everyone knows you've been rejected by the Hyuuga." She pushed on. Political nonsense was not her interest, but that was the best she could recall from the rumours about the girl becoming a genin at all. Wasn't she turned down as heiress or something? That's gotta sting. "So all you do now is try to be one of us genin, but you fail even at that!"

The Gentle Fist strike that came at her was nowhere near strong enough to knock the breath out of her, but still she found herself struggling to inhale. Another strike hit her leg, apparently reducing it to jelly. Her attacker did not jump away this time, and at this close range despite the veil of smoke around them Ino finally got a good, close look.

As far as Ino had been concerned throughout the Academy, the girl was thoroughly unremarkable. She didn't recall her ever speaking up, and when she was noticed in the background, she seemed to hunch herself together, appear even smaller than she was. Her face was always cast down, hair obscuring her face. But now her back was straight and she looked right at her with a clear, iron gaze. She lifted her hand without hesitation and it lit up with chakra.  
What the hell had changed in so little a time?

A sound of kunai meeting rang across the field, followed by a loud yell from Naruto.  
And Hinata, even with her Byakugan active, instinctively turned her head towards him for a second before returning her focus to her own fight, face brightening up for a fraction of a second with confirmation that he was all right. _Ah._ That explained at least some of the irregularities about her, and why Ino's attempt to intimidate seemed to fail.  
Lesson one: make sure that you rely on the truth or something that can pass off as the truth, or you stand no chance of eroding our enemy's will. And the wrong words in the wrong place may even bolster an enemy's resolve. The speculative stab about not joining in for the race for Sasuke brought her attack down; Hinata might have just had a reason other than cowardice that kept her away from that crowd, which then unravelled all the rest.

Under other circumstances that could have been a cute discovery, but right now it was Bad News.

"Perhaps you are right, Ino-san. I am a failure. But I aim to be a proud one. I am sorry."

Her glowing hand struck out faster than Ino could react. It bypassed the kunai she held, and struck her elbow. Oddly enough it did not hurt like the previous strikes, but the impact spread up and down her right arm, reducing the whole limb into uselessness. Ino tried maintaining her grip on the kunai but it fell out from her fingers, and moving the arm was likewise impossible.

Still struggling to breathe or even stand back up, she had to rely on every bit of mental strength gained from Kurenai-sensei not to panic.  
"What did you do to me?!"

"… Unlike my cousin, I am not adept at the use of the Byakugan. I cannot perform the higher forms of Gentle Fist and shut down my enemy's chakra network. I used the strongest strike in the lower forms I know to temporarily paralyse your arm and make sure you can't use your mind-switching ability. I- I really am sorry about that!"

She jumped off back into the cloud of smoke, leaving Ino trying to recover.

* * *

The latest round of their fight did not bring much good for the chuunin of Team Ten.

Shikamaru has seen Naruto fight enough to make a good, educated guess which was the original body and which was the clone most of the time, but his latest move proved that he was not infallible. The shadow binding disposed of a number of clones but the original got in a good hit, leaving barely enough time to deflect with a kunai.

Shikamaru was not having an easy time of it. He had to divide his attention between gathering up enough chakra and herding what by now must have been a pack of clones around, trying to keep them from delivering successful hits.  
What he wouldn't give for a smart opponent now! It was awkward fighting a girl, but he found himself wishing he was again measuring himself up against Temari of the Sand. That one was smart, tried to mislead him as he mislead her, there was an enjoyable challenge in the predictions and planning as he fought her. This guy, though, he was ridiculous. A couple of times, from what he could tell in the slowly dissipating smoke, he actually charged in with no idea what he'd do next, and made up tactics on the fly. How the hell do you predict a guy with no plan?

Strangely he found himself needing to stay stationary as well. Sure enough he could take advantage of the cover and lead Naruto on a chase, but it was better to stay right near the middle of the clearing. He'd worked out early on in the training that he learns what his clones have, and right now the best thing was to pretend he hasn't. That way he could make sure Naruto kept up his assault on him and didn't make Ino's job even harder. And it was best to keep him close, he was almost ready.

A clone rushed him with a punch from the left, but a shuriken took care of it. He mustn't lose focus.  
Another followed, charging straight ahead, and a shadow undid this attacker too. He was almost there!  
The next, as it turned out, was the real one and he got in a punch as he ran by him, Shikamaru had no choice but to take it, this close.  
The smoke bombs finally were running out, still maintaining cover, but he could see further and further ahead.  
The hand seals came to him like a reflex, the same jutsu he'd known for as long as he could remember, just different in the matter of scale.  
"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

Once again his shadow came alive, like it did countless times. But unlike before where it snaked around at his will, it now expanded in a myriad small tentacles and thinned out, latching onto every bit of human chakra in the field.  
The smoke veil slowly dissipated. Blood dripped out of Shikamaru's nose, but his face was ruled by relief and a measure of smugness.  
"Shadow binding technique, successful."

The network of shadows receded, let Ino go and shaped itself into a dozen or so threads connecting him and the Narutos as well as Hinata. They each strained against the technique to no avail, and with Shikamaru's movement they found themselves mimicking the shadow user.

"Well you tried, but there is no beating Team Ten!" Once freed, Ino gloated a bit to take her mind off of her still limp and useless arm. Then, if ffor no other reason but to assuage her pride, she nailed her eyes on Hinata. With some difficulty, keeping a mind on her breathing she got up and slowly, still limping slightly walked over to the stuck Hinata, forced by the shadow possession into Shikamaru's unhealthy slouch. "And Wallflower, I owe you THIS!"

Ino put her whole body into the slap. The resounding, gratifying sound echoed back on the trees – as did the sound of a dispelling clone. The following silence was filled only with the Narutos trying to look inconspicuous while still mirroring Shikamaru's movements.  
"Don't tell me…"  
The shadow links each produced a tentacle with a pointy end, and took a tentative stab at the legs of the captured figures. A dozen pops later, Shikamaru and Ino stood alone. Shikamaru didn't even have time to let off another groan when a loud yell disrupted him, from the far end of the clearing.

"HERE WE GO, HINATA! LET'S FINISH 'EM OFF!"

The manipulation of chakra to boost one's abilities is one most basic skills shinobi are taught. Few ever even think of it consciously, only when they _really_ need to rely on the boost to save their lives. Yet as the Fifth's example shows, with precise enough control this incredibly simple technique can be refined and its power increased hugely, enhancing the amazing machine that is the human body to a level where it can level buildings.  
In comparison to any of that, Naruto's and Hinata's feat was hardly impressive. Neither possessed control on such a spectacular level. But if you have two users doing their best to coordinate their boost and work together, the result, as Shikamaru and Ino found out, could be something scary.

A tendency to get dizzy was an embarrassing and shameful weakness, as Hinata found out while attempting to master the Kaiten. She never gave up hope that she'd grow past it, but for the moment it gave her many a terrible situation. Right now, however, she found an odd comfort in it, as making sure she did not get dizzy occupying her attention made her too busy to get into the awkwardness of holding Naruto by the hand. Or spinning him around like that, mutually trying to feel and balance the other's level of chakra in their arm. With pressure on her not to mess up the aim and put him halfway into a tree. It is safe to say that Hinata was not in her comfort zone.

But a month training with the boy she admired had done much to help her confidence, at least on a select number of things. She could do it because he needed her to, and relied on her not messing up. Over time she has grown used to her team having a confidence like that in her, deserved or not, and she absolutely refused to ruin that. Even if he made a very distracting face while being spun around.  
Her Byakugan, if she concentrated, let her aim in spite of the constant movement. She locked on her target, made her preparations, tightened her grasp on Naruto's hand, flexed her muscles and chakra in synch with him. And off he flew.

The bright orange projectile approached fast, Ino was practically out of it, and Shikamaru had used up most of his chakra on the last move. Under those circumstances and in the time the whole attack started, it was probably impressive the way he ducked out of its path, letting the flying Naruto pass him by – but he neglected to expect him to start skidding along the grass, fighting against the momentum but finally stopping behind him. In what seemed like a split second that Shikamaru couldn't move in, an evil grin spread across Naruto's pace and his fingers formed themselves into the sign of the Tiger.  
"You've left yourself vulnerable!" Was the guy's voice always so deep? " **TIME TO TEACH YOU A LESSON! BEHOLD! KAKASHI-SENSEI'S MOST FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE, MASTERED AND ENHANCED BY YOURS TRULY!** "  
Shikamaru definitely did not like the sound of that.  
Naruto was radiating chakra and both his enemies practically froze in time before him.  
" _ **WIND RELEASE: A THOUSAND YEARS OF WHIRLWIND DEATH!**_ "

As it turns out, combining a rather unique taijutsu technique and an only somewhat controlled, mostly raw amount of wind chakra produced some evidently _very_ painful results.

With both enemy combatants incapacitated, Naruto and Hinata legged it.

* * *

When Shikamaru came to, to the relief of a worried Ino looking over him, it was with an unusual clarity of purpose and energy within his soul.  
"I am going to commit murder, Ino."

* * *

Hop right, evade left, a warning from Hinata. Mid-air twist, kunai and wire, he yanked himself to the side and away from the trap ahead. Normally that last move would have had him proud of himself, but right now there was no time.

It really wasn't supposed to go like this. Taking out Shikamaru had them not that far away from the exit point, and without opposition; by all rights he should now be happily celebrating.

But for one thing the move that incapacitated him back in the bell test, even enhanced, wasn't quite as effective, granting them a very angry pursuer, and for another they had to use up a lot of time after Sasuke, the uppity bastard dropped a sleeping Lee onto his clone hard enough to dispel him before heading to the exit on his own, resulting in a large detour to make sure that group was okay. At least with a new squad carrying Lee and Neji, guided by Chouji through the forest he could focus on the more immediate problem.

Hitting the ground, he rolled to the side, barely dodging the kunai thrown after him by Shikamaru, who in his anger seemed to get good enough with his tentacles to hurl himself forward tree to tree with them - as well as take some of the traps he and Hinata just barely avoided, and hurl it after them, branch and all.  
Still, being chased together, with an odd safety of knowing he can rely on her, occasionally being the one to get her out of a spot of trouble was surprisingly fun.

Running zig-zag, seeking cover from a tree, she caught up to him, out of breath. They didn't exchange words, there was no time, but she pointed in the direction of the gate and nodded. It was time for a final rush, and grinning at her let him forget about his own exhaustion catching up with him. It wasn't as fast as Shikamaru's advance, but it was certain enough for him to know it was time to finish this.

He grabbed her hand, and before she had time to react, he was already dragging her behind him in a mad dash. Chakra was the key to so much, he had used it for enough already, so how fast could you go if you really, really pumped all you could into your legs? It was time to figure out and to give the traps and Shikamaru a run for their money.

Speeding up, the forest around them became a blur, with Naruto's mind focused on not hitting trees, keeping his chakra even and keeping a good hold of Hinata behind him. He could just about make out the angry yell from the other chuunin as they darted away, amidst the explosions and all manner of nasty surprises unleashed as they progressed in a straight line, all a second too slow to catch them.  
The forest was a blur on the edge of his vision, his lungs burned with the effort, but they were getting closer and closer, until finally…

* * *

"SAFE!"  
Naruto yelled victoriously, bursting through the final gate. Still with Hinata's hand in his hand, he spun her around happily.

"Haha! Eat that, Shikamaru! Mission successful!" He yelled back to the forest. He looked at the girl, and for once she didn't look away or fidget with her hands, but simply smiled back at him. He liked that.

It was at this point, in the space of the few seconds they had on Shikamaru, with Naruto's eyes closed in a grin that Hinata almost broke out in tears with joy. Her first mission with Naruto-kun, even if it was a mock one, ending in a way that couldn't have had her happier. The questions eating away at her were no longer important, she managed to stand up for herself, and the world was perfect, just for those fleeting moments.

And then a very much enraged Shikamaru Nara flew out from the trees, propelled by anger and shadow tentacles, and punched his fellow chuunin straight in his face, putting every bit of power of his momentum into it.  
Naruto tumbled off with the punch, only caught by the appearing Kakashi-sensei.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru tried to massage some blood back to his fist. "There are things you _don't_ do. What the he-?"

There was something suddenly very wrong, very worrying in the world around him. The hairs on the back of his neck raised, goose bumps all over his body signalled in their primal way that he should worry. The red mist of rage gone, he reviewed the situation in a flash. He punched Naruto. Good. He failed the mock mission. Bad. Ino was no longer following him, but instead went to the side and began chatting still at the edge of the forest with Haruno and Tenten who just came around a cluster of trees. Women.  
So everything was right and peaceful, correct? He was more or less alone at the gate, just with Hinata where she was when he punched Naruto away, expression and posture frozen as if by one of his shadows.

"Shikamaru-kun." Was her voice always so cold?  
The Nara turned his head and looked at her. He worked in a close team with Ino of all people for months now. He faced his mother on a daily basis. He has stared into the face of Temari of the Sand in a one-on-one battle of wits. He knew terror. But this was something different.

"What you have done… was just. However " the white of her eyes suddenly brimmed with chakra, veins around it swelled, and Shikamaru felt she was staring right through him, into his very soul "if you ever again lay a finger on Naruto-kun, I will never forgive you." And with that the eyes deactivated and the girl went off after Naruto, already fishing around in her pockets for her healing balm.

Shikamaru Nara made a very careful mental note, an adjustment on the list of people better not to mess with. His mother, the Hokage, that Temari girl. Finally the list saw a male addition in Naruto, if only so because messing with him would be poking a far greater potential evil in its white, scary eye.

"So, did you kill him, Shikamaru?" He nearly jumped at Ino's voice at his back. When the hell did she get that quiet and fast?

"Are you kidding or blind, Ino-Pig? That oaf's thick skull can take beatings much worse than that. I bet he isn't even out." With Shikamaru's back to the new arrivals still, he was certain they couldn't see his eye twitch. A trade-off of that was, of course, that he had his back to them.

"It was nothing compared to what Lee and Neji do all the time to each other. I swear, one of these days one of them will end up dead. So, does this mean we win?"  
Okay, he was calm now. A voice not threatening or commanding, just inquiring about whether Shikamaru was beaten. It was almost soothing by comparison.  
When Ino finally grabbed him by the neck to drag towards Asuma-sensei in the distance, he almost welcomed the possibility of a mere lecture about what to do better next time.

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow! I didn't know Shikamaru could get that mad. But your technique sure worked, Sensei!" Naruto gingerly felt his bruised up face. Kakashi once more found himself amazed at the healing rate of Naruto, even without active use of the Fox's chakra the bruise was regenerating practically visibly.  
"Naruto, I never actually taught you that. Please never use it again. Or if you do, don't tell them it is mine."

Kakashi returned to his book, finishing off the page, filtering out the chatter as three kunoichi assigned to Naruto joined him. He didn't do too badly for a first mission, especially against a Nara. He has made some good choices for the tactics, not just in his own fight, but set up others well too. But he made a crucial error, in selection, but prioritised his teammates, even his temporary opponents over just completing the mission. Still it was best to get him grounded again, if only for what he had in mind.

He looked up at Naruto listening to Gai's kunoichi delivering an impromptu lecture on hitting moving targets, rubbing the ointment offered by Kurenai's pupil onto his cheek. The team's spirits were high, so he decided to ease Naruto into the lecture, and got the group's attention by a louder-than-necessary shutting of his book. He beckoned them to follow him.

"At any rate, well done. There will be time enough to talk your decisions over, but there was a particular incident during the mission that, if this was serious, would bear repercussions for you as well as your troops." He said, watching the smile slowly melt off the chuunin's face. "Can you tell me about what it is?"

"It- it was Sasuke and Lee, wasn't it, sensei?" He came up with the answer with a gulp, gazing back to the forest, wondering when the squad and Chouji would turn up.

"Sasuke? What happened? What did you screw up, Naruto? Where's Sasuke?" The accusatory tone from the kunoichi of Team Seven made the discussion even more awkward.

"He has already departed for the day. As for Naruto's mistake, it is nothing that you, as one of the more... studious genin in the group shouldn't have been able to spot and warn about, Sakura." Kakashi turned the lecture for the moment away from Naruto and towards her. "His leading style may not be perfect, but to his credit he listened to you all during planning, so you as one of the people who know Sasuke well, take part in the failure."

"I still don't really get what went wrong, Sensei." Naruto confessed. "I mean I got the memories, but it makes no sense! What the hell was even up with Lee? And for Sasuke to pull that..."

"It is a unique condition. Not something I or anyone setting up the test has foreseen, but let that be a lesson - there might at any time turn up factors you didn't know of, with the battlefield conditions, with your team member's personalities, tools or jutsu, especially if you split up your team and you are not present with your main self to lead and fix the situation."

They walked slowly away from the Forest, towards a small table and a familiar crystal ball, with the Hokage delivering a quiet, but very animated talk to Shizune about something Kakashi saw best not to get involved in.

"But Sensei, I had to split them up, didn't I? That was the correct solution, wasn't it?" he drew Kakashi-sensei away from the girls and added quietly "I mean Shikamaru had all those plans, and I thought well, it's Sasuke and Eyebrows isn't it?"

"Naruto, I think you will find that there are rarely correct and incorrect solutions to any one problem. Any number of tactics or jutsu could have resolved the mission for you, and what you went with, while not the easiest, was sufficient. As for your decision, you trusted Sasuke and Lee to make it work based on their combat performance. Sending those two together was a good idea, but it came with its own drawbacks that you as the leader should have foreseen."

Kakashi was glad Naruto turned his back to the audience and wondered if he and his generation were as nosy when they were this age. The three kunoichi in the back all tried to look as if they are not listening in, and failed spectacularly. Sakura's main interest was plain as day, Gai's pupil looked up with some worry when Lee was mentioned and the third one stared at the leader with an equal amount of concern.  
Still, the lessons seemed to downcast the boy enough to make even Kakashi take it easier on him.

"But no one expected you to perform flawlessly. Splitting up your team is always a risky move, although it can, like now, be worth it. Just make sure to know who you are sending with whom, and that you take the risk knowing what it entails. Never assume victory because you got the strongest of your men on the problem, strength is not the sole measure of ninja." Kakashi patted Naruto's head. "And that goes for you three as well. We operate in squads for a reason."

"And ninja don't waste time on lecturing around when there's a job to be finished either. Good show, by the way, brat." Tsunade made an effort to sound impatient, but couldn't help but smile. Kakashi has done a good job with the kid, without really dulling the ridiculous, adorable side of him that earned him her necklace. "So then, you have a package for me I take it?"

"Yes, sir!" Naruto perked up and did a cheeky and cheerful salute. Tsunade extended an expectant hand. But instead of the expected search of his backpack or pockets, maybe a storage scroll, the chuunin formed a seal. He looked up at her questioning expression, and added.  
"Uh, this will just be a minute." He bit the end of his thumb, smeared the blood across the rest of his fingers in a single move and slammed his palm to the ground. "Summoning jutsu!"

"Sup, boss." Something small spoke, waving away the smoke from around it.

"Hey, Gamakichi. Got the scroll?" Naruto greeted the small toad with friendly familiarity.

"I sure do." The small, orange toad opened its mouth impossibly wide, reached in and pulled out the slime-covered, white scroll. "Here ya go."

"Eww, did you have to swallow it?" Naruto made a face and tried to shake off the worst of the slime before handing it to the Hokage.

"Well I sure as hell wasn't gonna keep it in my hands all day. You could summon me anytime so I can't just put it down, and I only got one other place to stick it and we ain't on _that_ good terms. Plus you'd be even less happy about that, eh?" The toad was bemused at the humans' reaction. They could be prissy sometimes, but they were cute. "If ya got a problem with that, take it up with Pops. Anyway, I hope you'll get those snacks from last time, Gamatatsu's been up in my pond about getting some more."

"Sure. Stick around and we'll pick them out. Anyway, here's the scroll, Granny!" He extended the damp, still dripping scroll to her. If part of his mind that was still a prankster looked forward to her reaction, it would be disappointed. She grabbed the scroll without any hesitation and broke the seal on it with a kunai that seemed to materialise out of thin air.

"You're one of Gamabunta's progeny, right? You must be pretty young, I can barely see any toad oil on this." She observed casually, regarding the small summon.

"Heh, I got plenty of that already, I was just bein' real careful with it. That reminds me, Pops sends 'is regards to Katsuyu-sama. That compress she made him helped out tons, he barely complains anymore."

"I'll be sure to pass it on." Tsunade pecked off the last bit of wax, and unrolled the scroll on the table beside the crystal ball. It revealed a simple chakra seal on the inside. "Well done, you completed the first real mission I threw at you, with enemy ninja and all. There's no pay, we're a bit tight at the moment, but there IS something of a reward here for you. Kakashi?"

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama. Naruto, you've done well in getting promoted, as well as making it to this point with our training. You are hardly finished, as none of us are, but you should know where and how to proceed. As your sensei I will keep supporting you, and I am sure Asuma" he looked over to the jonin delivering a lesson of his own to Shikamaru, Ino and Kurenai's other two genin who showed up on their own accord "can help you out as well. You have proven that you can lead a team and as your sensei I hereby authorise you to lead Team Seven or others assigned under you."

"In other words" Tsunade added. "You have our permission to do your damn job already. And boy, am I itching to have you out of my hair, doing some good for a change instead of training and hogging up my jonin." Tsunade grinned. "So go on, let's get this over with, give it to him already."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama" Kakashi performed a sequence of hand seals and slammed his hand onto the seal on the scroll.

The item that appeared with the smoke was simple, unassuming, functional. Kakashi picked it up and stared at it for a second. Would Sensei approve? Would father? How about Obito? But he's made the decision already.  
"You may have noticed, Naruto, that your flak jacket has a holster fixed to the back. It is for the traditional weapon for the chunin, the tanto. It's quicker than a katana, longer than a kunai, and your best friend in a close quarters situation."

Kakashi pulled the blade out of its sheath, and gave it a few swings as demonstration. Unlike a normal blade, this one seemed to drag a white trail through the air behind it, the chakra crackling with lightning.  
"This one is built after another that was in my possession once. Unlike the standard issue, it is created with chakra-conductive metal as I'm sure you noticed. With some getting used to it, you should find the blade it creates with your elemental nature to be much better than what you can do just free-handed, or with a kunai you've practiced on." He put the weapon back into the sheath, and offered it to Naruto. "I have given Chidori to Sasuke, so it's only right that I give something of similar value to you, after all the effort you put into your training. In return I expect you to use it to keep your team and village safe."

Naruto couldn't find the words. Truth be told, the few times he's tried out various weapons back at the Academy or when Kakashi-sensei made him get used to the most common types, he always fell back to a preference to the simple kunai. Even as his second choice he'd probably pick hand to hand fighting – with the strides he's been making with Hinata, it was getting really fun to spar with her lately.  
But this was a gift from his sensei, a weapon practically tailor-made for his wind release and he was asked to defend his precious people with it. He'd have gladly accepted even a floorboard with a rusty nail in it if it was offered to him like that.

"I will, sensei!"


	11. Departure

**Chapter 10 - Departure**

Ichiraku's ramen stand was every bit as much a central node of Konoha's nervous system as the Hokage Mansion. Oh, there were other restaurants where you could grab just about anything made in the Land of Fire or beyond, there were better places to drink whatever was your poison or cure, and each little food shop along the street had their recepies they poured decades of skill and heart into. But everyone came in for a ramen every now and then. Missions, it seemed, often started every bit as much in front of full bowls as in front of the Hokage.  
One shinobi, granted, was far more frequent a visitor than others.

"Hey, Pops! Morning, Ayame-neechan!" The boy's cheerful greeting had Ayame crack a happy smile and put on a whole new batch to cook. She enjoyed her work anyway, but someone that happy to enjoy the fruits of one's labour was a rare sight. Plus, an early sprout of an entrepreneur's voice added, Naruto was really good for the business. Not only could he out-eat anyone Ayame had seen before, he seemed to bring new people constantly and now, a whole group.

"Man, I haven't had a chance to have some of Ichiraku Breakfast in almost a month! Eat up, everyone!" He ushered the team of young shinobi to the seats and whacked a tattooed boy on his left on the back so hard that the chopstickis he was about to split almost ended up in his nose. "It's on me today."

Ignoring the annoyed reactions of the genin and his canine partner, he leaned closer to the owner of the stall owner, and added quietly.  
"'Though it's still weird that it's now me who buys ramen to others. Usually it was Iruka-sensei buying it for me, but Kakashi-sensei said it's custom that I gotta." He turned a conspiratorial expression into a coy one, however and continued. "But that's what chuunin do when leading their troops out for a mission, eh?"  
He finished with a grin, then submerged himself in his meal like the rest of the team, each at their respective paces.

A second and a third batch were put on boil just in case - you never knew with Naruto - and going in and out of the kitchen in the back had Ayame busy enough that she barely had time to catch who it was at the stall with him. One girl she recognised from the other day, sampling the ramen with an odd expression, almost more immersed in the food than in shooting sideways looks at Naruto, blushing. Now there was a compliment, Ayame smiled.

She disregarded the advice of her almost-sisterly instincts upon seeing the duo half following, half directing a small orange toad the other day, preferring to amuse herself with the sight of the squad of clones following them, carrying a mountain of snacks. After all, she reasoned, for all of Naruto's love of Ichiraku's and tendency to bring friends and even acquaintances over, they never did sit down to have a meal. But here she was now, sitting on the other side of the tattoed genin, completely quiet, and she still managed to say plenty.  
They did grow up fast, didn't they?

Well, girls did anyway. Naruto, as usual, was preoccupied with the food - and there was a compliment too, not to mention a sisterly urge to slap some sense into the boy.

"A mission, you say?" Teuchi shook his head, more concerned with the idea of a group this young being sent out on missions than his daughter. Sure, they were among the first to see Naruto's new jacket, and he knew well what that entailed, hell, he was even happy for him, but it didn't mean he had to like it. "Well then, it's a good job you asked for those supplies, at least. It's bound to do you good out there, if you have to go that badly. What did they send you out to do anyway?"  
He refilled a bowl between tending to the noodles and spicing up the broth, but his attention remained on the blonde boy.

"Don't know yet." Naruto appreciatively slurped between words. "Granny will brief us, but first, a good chuunin should tend to his team. Some of us were on opposing teams yesterday, so I thought some ramen will help ease things over. Right, Kiba?" He announced, clearly pleased with his thoughtfulness. If he had a beard, he'd have stroked it.

"I'm all over it, myself." The tattooed boy shrugged. "Now Akamaru, he's much less forgiving than me. Care to make amends?" he leaned over to Team Seven's kunoichi, who was sitting by the team's other genin's side, though not as actively trying to snuggle up to the boy as on the few occasions the team has been to the stall. Instead she was mostly immersed in a small scroll unrolled on the table, almost too enthralled to eat at all.

"What? Oh, sure, sorry, sorry." She mumbled, somewhat dismissively with her preoccupation. "But if the chakra is manipulated like that, then what Kurenai-sensei said..." her monologue trailed off. Kiba shrugged once more, but his faithful companion gave an annoyed growl, still to no effect.

"...Anyway" Kiba looked over to Naruto "you better not make any mistakes on that mission. I'm trusting Akamaru, Hinata, Shino, hell, even myself on you, you know. You beat us yesterday, but don't think it's going to be easy. If you get anyone in Team Eight hurt, I'm personally kicking your ass!"

"Oh, you'd like to have a repeat spar? We can arrange that sometime." Naruto matched Kiba's feral grin with one of his own. "But we get the mission done first. And _I_ will be relying on _you_ as well, so if you mess up, I am kicking your butt for it. Deal?"

"You're on!"

"Arf!"

They laughed, and the discussion shifted to more casual topics. Naruto's breakfasts could last a while, and everyone else too seemed adamant of having a nice meal before going off to who knew what. Ayame could spot a seemingly casual check for holsters every now and then, even Naruto patted one of his vest pockets between assaults on his food. This wasn't the rookie they'd seen happy and eager to depart for some mission defending a bridge builder.

Finally he sent all the rest ahead, to meet by the Hokage Mansion, while he took hold of Teuchi's package, all with the veneer of... if not a seasoned chuunin, then at least someone with a sense of responsibility, some degree of authority, and the willingness to use it to get things done.  
Only one, the very last thing broke the spell a bit.

"And with that included, here's the first official bill for treating your troops." Teuchi presented Naruto with the slip, a mix of reluctant pride and amusement on his face. "My advice? Frame it and put it on a wall."

"Thanks, Pop- WHAT?" Naruto went white, looking at the numbers.

"Fate has a funny way of getting back on all of us, doesn't it?" The man's voice betrayed a mix of glee and joy; this, in his view was truly the passing of a torch.

Naruto's hand began to shake as he took out his poor, poor frog-shaped wallet and began to empty her contents, hoping it'd be enough.  
For all his progress at situational awareness, for all his ninja skills gained, someone managed to easily, widely out-do his ramen consumption without him ever taking note, wrecking up a bill to widen eyes.  
It's as if they had it for the first time and couldn't get enough of it or something.

* * *

Some things were permanent about the Hokage's office. The masked guards, for starters, glared at Naruto with the same intensity as when he used to come in to bother Gramps. They've never been the friendliest sort to start with, some he could recognise as the people who had to deal with a few of his more inventive pranks, and stealing the scroll way back when probably did not help his standing with their group much.

Then there was the new. It may have been tolerated of the Academy student to barge in at any time he felt like it, but a chuunin was not afforded such luxuries, for starters. So he sat in waiting with his team under the scrutiny of the guards until Shikamaru departed with Teams Ten and Gai in tow, moaning about how troublesome some delivery to the Sand was going to be. And upon entering, it became clear that the Third never seemed to keep that many documents all around the place, nor did he let in so much light.

"Teams Seven and Eight, or, hah, Team Uzumaki reporting, sir!" He tried to do his best to salute the way he'd seen Lee do it. "What do you got for us, Granny?" He asked, grinning at the Hokage.

Tsunade smiled and shook her head. The kid truly did take after his mother and godfather.  
"I got a severe beatdown in store for you if you keep calling me Granny in official functions." She said sweetly. "Incidentally it's Teams Kakashi and Kurenai, not the temporary numbered teams and especially not a new one named after you. That's something to wait for until you are a Jounin, and a sensei at that. Just stick with the official names, will you?"

She took tender care to avoid seeing Naruto having one foot stepped on by Izunuka and the other by Haruno and took out a scroll from a drawer in her desk. It was nice to see some camaraderie and the kids working together to stop the babbling of their commander, futile a goal as that might have been, but not something to be officially noticed.

"Now then. You want an important mission? Here's one. It's on the verge of C- and B-rank, so keep your wits about you. Normally I'd wait with this magnitude a while, but we haven't time for such luxuries." She watched for reactions. As expected, Naruto and Izunuka beamed at the challenge, Uchiha and Aburame remained stoic, whereas the kunoichi, always the least easily taken with lofty missions in her opinion, both showed signs of mild concern. So far so good, and they earned some reassurances.

"Team Seven has experience a protection job well above a C-rank, and the other three should be able to warn you of any danger beforehand. The two teams have had experiences enough that between you the pool of skills is sufficient for the mission." She said, visibly relaxing the girls and even disappearing some of the not-so-easy-to-spot tension from the others. "The only difference is that you're not defending a single man this time, but his cargo as well. In addition you will be taking this scroll to him to give to a client at his final destination. We are not expecting any trained ninja, but the area is volatile and unpredictable. All clear so far?"

A communal nod came from the team.

"Good." She nodded and the chuunin by the door handed a small scroll to each shinobi. " Any further info you will find in there. Names, locations, recommended gear. The rest is need to know only, and I will discuss it with your captain. Hyuuga, Uchiha, I will need you two to stay on as well. Everyone else, dismissed."

"Yes, Lady Fifth!" The genin chorused.

There was a bit of moving around as the rest of the team left, accompanied by some growling from the passenger on the dog user's head.  
Tsunade pulled out a document from a folder, Naruto fiddled with his vest expectantly, the two dojutsu users remained silent.

"The scroll is good reading material for you three as well. Details on the official segments of the mission, so if Naruto should up and croak, any one of you can finish the mission perfectly fine." She began her explanation, cutting off the blond boy's objection. "Don't make that face, Naruto, having contingencies, as I know you know, is part of basic preparation. That's better. Now, the kicker is that while the official mission is simple enough, there is... another aspect to it that you are not to babble about. Is that understood?"

Three nods. Even Naruto seemed to drop the attitude and listen properly.

Out of habit more than real need to further security here, Tsunade performed a jutsu that ensured their privacy, then opened the folder in front of her.  
"Good. Before I say anything more, I will have to see whether there's any point to telling anything to you two. Uchiha. Kakashi has given me a summary of your capabilities with your Sharingan. Two-tomoe variant, correct?"

"Yes." Sasuke's answer was simple and direct, staring right at the village's leader.

"And you have been present on… a certain experiment with Jiraiya. No need to repeat the details." She returned the glare with one of her own, with a measure of authority and mutual understanding between people exposed to Jiraiya's less than ordinary working methods.  
And speaking of such, Naruto, whom she expected would butt in with a jealous comment remained quiet, albeit with a strange expression. He did not seem particularly thrilled his master has spent time with his rival, and Tsunade already cringed inwardly in sympathy for her old friend for whatever the boy would come up with.  
Still, there was a briefing to get on with.

"In any case, I gather that you have seen the chakra-conductive materials at use." She kept up a simple, matter-of-fact tone most members of her clan who were not her grandfather always reserved for the Uchiha. Not that she had anything against the boy, but discounting Itachi, they were the last remaining members of their respective village-founding clans, and the council's and nobility's plans for him already caused their fair share of headaches to her. Besides, he seemed to approve of the lack of beating around the bush. "Can you detect them? The chakra in question _is_ invisible, but in the materials, at rest or running, you should be able to spot it."

The answer was a curt nod and a pair of eyes now fixed at her. The boy was finally getting interested.  
"Good. Activate your Sharingan and look at that shelf. Each container has liquid metals in it. If you can, you should be able to tell me which is the right one."

Sasuke's eyes flared red for a second, and he replied "Fifth on the right side."

"You get to stay, then." She allowed some pleasantness to slide back to her tone, turned to the other genin.

To Tsunade's annoyance the qualities of the girl that caught her eye yesterday were not on display now. Gone was the quiet self-assurance, the small, controlled spike of powerful presence, she now seemed more weak than gentle, intimidated without a single word spoken to her directly. Perhaps she was the kind to harden under pressure? This was as good an opportunity as any to find out, Tsunade decdied.  
"Now, Hyuuga. I happened to note the other day that you mentioned not being as adept at the use of the Byakugan as your cousin. Thing is, I need you to be pretty damn good with it for this mission. Are you?"

"...Well, I, that is to say I've been getting a bit better at it, but…" Hinata's voice was unsure and quiet in front of the village's leader, trembling at the focused attention on her. Her shoulders drew together on their own, her gaze automatically avoided the eyes that needed no dojutsu to be firey gems and sought the comfort of the floor, fingers nervously twiddling without her ever instructing them to. "… it's not always the same, and I – "

"Speak up, girl, you're too damn quiet for your own good. What can you see through? Is your Byakugan good enough to see chakra openings clearly?"  
Lady Hokage's voice wasn't harsh, but it felt like lashes nonethtless, reminding Hinata of the sheer difference between someone like her and someone actually strong. The small, delightful discovery of the morning stood no chance of keeping her spirits high as the woman towered above her, dismissing the brief joy of being told she might be needed for the mission in some special way, simply by posing Hinata against the demands of that.

"S-sometimes I can and since I started a new training " she managed to say and shot a shy look towards Naruto "it's been getting better. But it's not always there." She gulped, knowing what would follow. Her progress, she knew, was mundane and insufficient, to be revealed to the boy she admired above all else.

"If you cannot be consistent and dependable with it, you might as well just leave right now. Being reliable is an essential hallmark of any shinobi!" Tsunade watched the girl tremble, grow more and more unsure. She was not often wrong in her assessments of people, but always tried to leave room enough for them to disappoint her, and the girl was getting closer to that by the second. Her frustration made its way out of her mouth before she really considered its effects. "And you won't get there by whispering like that. It's a kunoichi's pride to maintain a strong will! If you can't, this world has no use for you!"

"I understand." Hinata muttered. She'd just have to make sure she doesn't cry, for as long as she is still in the mansion at least.

She was about to turn around and leave when Naruto's hand on her shoulder stopped her, and their eyes met. This time she wasn't lost in a blush or an awkward fantasy as it happened. There was no adrenaline, no pressure of fighting. She stared into the blue eyes of the boy she liked, of the person she spent the last month training with, who helped her so much for so little in turn. But there was more to it. He was the captain of her unit, temporary or no, and in that look there was same support mixed with expectation to stand up for herself as Kurenai-sensei had so often.  
She knew and was amazed by how much he's progressed, and for all her meekness, knew that at least some of that was because she could thankfully help him, even just a little bit. In his eyes, harder than usual, there was his usual brightness and energy, mixed with resolve, expectation... and faith in her. Did she have the right to damage that?  
If she lost her way here and now, she knew it'd hurt him as well, and that was the one thing she could not allow.

Her knees still trembled and she struggled to suppress a shiver as she bore the focus of the Hokage, but she did look up and looked her straight in the eye.  
"Tsunade-sama, please allow me to prove I can be useful!"

"That's more like it!" Tsunade wasn't pleased with the girl slipping up, but Naruto's stepping in was just what she'd want from him - and again there was a sliver of what she spotted previously in the Hyuuga as well. Perhaps some lenience was in order - as well as a quick test to see if she was up to the job. Did Naruto do a good enough job to get her spirits up again? She decided she'd find out herself, and prepared a trick of chakra control for the task.  
And finding herself lecturing every bit as much as she used to do with Shizune, threw in some advice as she did so.

"Never, my girl, should you allow others to rattle your cage. They might not be as forgiving as I am." She held up her arms to cut off the inevitable apology she sensed a ways off, signalling she wasn't yet finished. "Especially if they are questioning your skills. If you have what it takes, their words are meaningless, and even if you don't, there is no shame in trying and failing. I was under the impression you've learned that, if not much else, from my newest chuunin."

"...but I aim to be a proud one." The girl was again quiet, but with thought, not weakness. Much, much better.

"So let's see whether you can, then!" Tsunade rolled up one of her sleeves and extended her arm towards her. "Now, if you do have mastery over your eyes enough to see chakra openings, you will be able to tell me which tenketsu I am making pulse right now."

Without words or the seals, Hinata let the chakra slip into her eyes.

The other humans in the room, with the tiniest amount of concentration, became a pale background as their criss-crossing chakra networks lit up in their respective colours. She felt the warmth of Naruto's orange wash over them all, with the exception of the area around his teammate still dominated by a strange black-blue aura. But she needed to concentrate on the third, not near as overflowing as Naruto's but with a similar richness and complexity to her whole network of forest-green energy.

She gulped, and as time seemed to stretch itself in the moment of intense focus years of study and training with the clan's majestic eyes came to her.

All Hyuuga had the ability to activate the Byakugan, that alone wasn't regarded as anything special. It was something to master, rather than unlock for the most part, with the singular exception of seeing the tenketsu, the chakra openings. Some seemed instinctively able to see them right from the start, exceptional cases like her cousin and probably her sister had a natural knack for it - and then there was the rest, like Hinata.

She'd fought for it, and fought for it hard. There were fleeting moments of peace, joy or even sheer desperation where her entire vision came to focus, as if removing a haze that was on her eyes so she could see what was in front of her all along.  
The first time it happened was during a meditation session, before her failures embittered her relationship with her father and sister. Then the single time she ever could use it and do some good with it, in a tight spot when an enemy was just about to get Shino in the back, it came to her and she managed to seal off an active tenketsu, disturbing the man's movement and halting him so a swarm of bugs could envelop him. Most recently it happened during a spar with Naruto-kun that went just perfectly and they were in synch, reading and predicting each other's moves and it all became more like a dance than a fight, her crushing inability to express herself was washed away and she saw with perfect clarity the world around her.

None of those conditions seemed to apply right now. The Hokage was scary and she was telling her a difficult truth, but that was not the rush of combat, not to mention peace or joy. But those could not be the key - after all, Neji, until his recent change of heart never really seemed to possess much of either. But the thought of her cousin did give her an idea - both him and her father were clear in their views of life, such as they may have been, black and white as the unique symbols kept by her family, no unclear or undecided thoughts. Did she have anything of the sort, to centre herself around?

For all her failures, lingering inability to reach balance and all the insecurities of the world, she knew she did. Her nindo was to never go back on her word, following in Naruto's footsteps to one day stand beside him. For her there was no easy source of peace or inner strength, no clear pathway to mastery, just trying, failing and trying again – and by the Sage, now she would make herself succeed here.

She looked at the woman in front of her, the chakra system visible but unclear,possessing a complexity beyond her eyes' ability to decipher beyond the barest of basics. Hinata pushed, struggling to concentrate but not focus on a single point, the very antithesis of the Byakugan. She was not trying to make something happen, she was not affecting a change, but simply decided to stop glancing and start looking.

The chakra system, the organs it connected to, an entire living person, it was not a jumble but a whole to behold together. From the brain and the spine, the stomach and the blood vessels, thousands of tiny streams connected and formed a circulation of energy throughout the body. And as she followed them along, she finally spotted the first chakra opening and the next, then before she knew it she could barely believe she was blind to the three hundred and sixty one tiny dots of light escaping from the body.

If she had time, she'd have wondered at this tiny mirror image of a starry sky condensed into a human shape, but reality caught up with her. One of the tiny dots of chakra was not quite like the rest, bursting with energy for a second, then dimming to almost inactivity.

"Tsunade-sama, it is the chakra point just over your third rib on the left side. Now it is in your pinkie. Behind the right eye. Both of your toes."

"Good, that's much better. Now, what I'll actually need to look for is what you can pierce with those eyes of yours." With that, a considerably less awkward test followed, with a number of small containers composed of different materials and the description of their contents.

As Tsunade and Hinata began on a selection of metal boxes, Naruto took a minute to breathe easier. He knew Granny could be hard, but seeing her like that against Hinata, well it made him angry. He knew she was perfectly capable of pulling through, he'd seen how she was in the Preliminaries, and that was all the proof he needed, even without their shared training and how much he'd learned about her. But at the same time he also felt annoyed with Hinata - someone with so many qualities he wished he had, well, she had no right to waver like that! Like so many times that he just didn't get what made her tick, he was annoyed, but found himself ... interested, weirdly driven to know more, to figure things out.

When he approached her at first to train together, he recalled watching Hinata and Granny work through boxes, slightly wondering why even now, like always she seemed to turn and try to hide the veins around her Byakugan, he recalled that amazing strength, and had a gut instinct he could trust her. Yep, that was still there, but now joined by a whole cavalcade of thoughts.  
He'd have to admit that he didn't know much about people and friendships. The bond he shared with Iruka, then Konohamaru and later on Sasuke and Sakura-chan, they all differed from each other now that he thought about them, and so the one with Hinata was something different too. They all made him act in their own ways, but with her even that was different - he couldn't point a finger as to why he grabbed her like that and just looked at her instead of talking like he would ususally, he couldn't even put to words what the exchange between them really was about. But he really, really didn't want her to lose her way now, and if all it took to help her out was something small like this, he'd be damned if he didn't do it for her.

He'd be a bad friend otherwise, wouldn't he?  
He really wished he knew more about this sort of stuff.

"Fine, you get to stay too. But you'll need to step your confidence up, or you'll get nothing done in this world, take that from me. And now for the real point of your mission." The Hokage put away the box and let Hinata relax.

Naruto looked up, Sasuke untangled his arms. So much messing around had to mean a more exciting mission than warding off bandits from some trader's way. The seriousness of the village leader's voice made it clear that she was trusting them with something more important.  
"The trader you are assisting is a somewhat unusual fellow. We know frustratingly little about his background, but he's running a one-man trading operation along one of the major waterways of the continent. From expensive luxury goods to foodstuffs, raw materials or livestock, he makes little distinction. He also does some smuggling too, from our information perfectly indiscriminately between the various Elemental and minor nations, even with ninja villages."

"So, you want us to bust him, then?" Naruto asked, staring at the folder still at the Hokage's desk. Protection then arrest, well, they did not seem to mesh well, even to someone inexperienced like him.

"Not at all, he's done good service over the years." Granny confirmed his suspicion. "I even had Shizune collect some special deliveries from him, no trouble at all. But being indiscriminate means he has to ensure his goods are, well, apolitical. No one minds a little contraband, so long as it doesn't tip the balance of power. But this time someone's being stupid, and they might be using him, without his knowledge. Like others, he is trusted enough that if someone can pull the wool over his eyes, he could be a very useful channel of getting goods across."

"So you want to make sure he's not being used... without him knowing, because that would be us meddling in someone who isn't supposed to take sides?" Naruto tried to puzzle it together.

"Not bad, kid." Tsunade's smile widened, though he was unsure whether she liked him thinking or if she found his expression while doing so funny. "Care to guess why I am sending you, instead, say, a Jounin with a squad?"

Once more, Naruto frowned with thought, ignoring Sasuke's dismissive shrug. Unlike the lessons and scenarios of Kakashi-sensei, this was something real that was happening right now, but here too, he realised, he had a big hint already given to him. He simply needed to assemble all the pieces just right.

"Well, for one thing it would be weird if you sent a Jounin with a team like that, right after the Sand's attack, right? Kakashi -sensei going along with us to the Wave, that was to teach us, but someone strong when they were needed all over would be spotted easily." He began, looking at Granny, trying to pick up further clues from her reaction. It didn't give him anything, short of a small sign of approval, and urging to continue. "But there is more to it, isn't it? A trader, if he's like Tazuna, would want the cheapest he can get against bandits anyway, so it's best to send genin - but with Hinata and Sasuke, plus Kiba and Shino we have people who can search his cargo without being obvious about it! And Sakura-chan knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things, so she could put together clues we find!" Excited, Naruto snapped his fingers.

"Keep that up, and you may just prove real chuunin material yet, brat!" Tsunade's grin broadened. The kid missed a couple of steps in the larger game played, but that was hardly surprising, he didn't have all the pieces for it. Not that she did either, but for now it would do. "But there is one more thing. Take this scroll" with barely a flick of her wrist she threw the small but weighty item at the chuunin, who caught it with practiced reflexes "and give it to him when you are about to reach your final destination. He will know who he is to take it to, we've arranged that as part of his payment. No, you don't get to know what is in it. Let's just say that these days, it is very difficult to establish communications with the Hidden Stone, and this should help us out, while I'm sending you lot up there anyway."

That comment had even Sasuke react, made him break his façade of disinterest. Was this woman barking mad? A Leaf ninja in the Stone, outside of a Chuunin Exam held at the height of a perfect peace that's never actually existed was all but unthinkable.

"We get to see the Hidden Stone? Cool! I wonder if they have different sorts of ramen over there." The temptation to groan painfully at Naruto's response tested even the Uchiha. He was very familiar with his, for lack of a better word, friend, but the blithering idiot, training and rank or no, often managed to find the most idiotic thing to say in any given situation. He almost wished Sakura was around, just so someone would smack him on the head.  
To his approval and mild terror at her sheer speed, the Hokage seemed to be up to the task.

"Ow, Granny, you're mean!" He jumped around, feeling the sizeable bump on his head tenderly.

"I did not have my jounin train you up just to have you lynched in there, idiot! Didn't Kakashi specifically teach you about the war and history?" Where the Hokage's good spirits regarding Naruto have gone was a mystery, but her outraged yelling at him offered a truly ghastly similarity to the occasional pink wrath directed at the new chuunin.

"Yeah he did, ow, but we're at peace now, right? So all of that bad stuff's gone, we settled it and everything."

"Oh I give up. Suffice it to say that no, you will not enter their village." Tsunade did not know whether to admire the boy's purity of heart or dread his naiveté. Instead, she rolled out a map. "As I said, the client's trade is right along the riverways of the continent. For this job, you are to cover him on the last section up the Turtle River, beginning at a trading port. Trade up to that point we can check, but from there on, we need someone to check, without it looking like we are checking. You will protect him as per the basic mission all the way to the Country of Earth and the Stone itself - but you are not to enter. We've made arrangements and you are expected at a camping site outside, but don't get funny ideas, just read the basic mission scroll. It's touchy enough as it is, with our trader friend and people like him selling us the rare metals the Stone really does not want us to have." her explanation was a bit simplistic, but the last thing she wanted was to get into the specifics that burdened her normal days and filled her exchanges with the concerns of her own Feudal Lord. "And to boot, not long after you get on board, the first tricky section is where the Turtle forms a border between the Land of Fire and our dear friends in the Land of Rice Paddies. Who have for years and years, before Orochimaru's takeover, been doing business with our client. I'll let you figure out how that comes in on your own."

She got up, more or less ready to call the briefing session quits. She knew damn well she was risking a lot here - every bit as much with putting Naruto on a relatively important mission as sending Uchiha so close to Orochimaru's territory - but it was necessary. After Jiraiya taking out Orochimaru's elite guard she'd detected no moves from him targeting the boy specifically. The upped security spotted a lot of spies from all over the ninja world, gained a lot of information, but it seemed the snaky bastard was letting that matter cool down for a bit - that, or he had channels of information far better than she could tackle at such short notice.  
It was worth the gamble at any rate. She had units in the area at any rate, and if the Uchiha would bait out a force enough to capture him or perhaps even Orochimaru himself, she had her plans and resources ready. If they didn't make their move on the boy, she could simply go along with her planned incursions and call it a day. It wasn't perfect, but the best she had on hand.

"Granny, why do you think this guy's the one who passes the stuff over? I mean wouldn't there be, y'know, a whole lotta other traders like him?" Naruto's question broke her out of that train of thought, and had her smile once more at how far the kid was still to go if he really wanted to become Hokage.

"Of course there are, and whenever possible we're sending people to investigate. It's hardly likely that it's just a single trader who is being used either, but we have to know who it is that's being used. Now, as I said, the fewer people know about this the better. If and when it becomes necessary you can tell the others, but there is no need to complicate matters. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Granny."

"Good, you three are dismissed." With a quick movement she undid the jutsu sealing off the room and opened the door. "And Naruto, don't push the Granny thing unless you want me to tear out your spine and shove it up your nose."

"Yes, Gra- Hokage-sama."

"That's better."

* * *

At four in the morning, even the pleasant and temperate climate of the Land of Fire had a chilly bite in the air. The darkness did not bother trained shinobi, the party proceeded among the trees without a sound.  
Well, almost without a sound.

"Damn it, Naruto, if you charge ahead like that, there won't be a single shinobi in the country who won't know where you are!" An annoyed voice sounded, backed up by a supportive bark. 'Without a sound' could be a relative thing.

Kiba, the group's unquestionable expert on forests, was finding himself annoyed. Sure, Naruto's rush got the group far quickly, and even now he occasionally turned around, cheered people on, got a group far more tired than he ever seemed to get to perk up, pick up the pace. Hell, he was usually the one to do that with missions under Kurenai-sensei. The only difference that got to Kiba's nerves was of simple finesse - while it was clear Naruto _could_ be stealthy, on his way to a mission with no instructions to do so, neither he nor his team seemed to see any reason to adapt the all but undetectable quietness the illusionist has taught her pupils.  
Working with another team, one of non-scouts, was a rather new experience.

"Kiba I told ya already, we got to make it to the village in time, and it's pretty far away. Besides, if someone does try to get to us, I got Hinata, you and Shino to spot 'em for me, right?" Naruto turned and flashed an infuriating grin at the team following him, making a certain teammate of Kiba practically radiate with joy. Well, at least points were due for some showing off, Kiba considered, and in all fairness in the old days under Kurenai-sensei it was Kiba himself who would dash ahead, awaiting the mission.

"Perhaps it would have been advisable to disembark sooner. Why? Because if a mission is important enough to rush so as to not be late, due diligence should have been taken to allow time enough to arrive with dignity." The monotone statement still found a way of being heard, despite attentions focused on navigation.

"Well, you gotta talk to Granny and Kakashi-sensei about that. He did say he was sorry in the note, though, that's more than what we usually get." Naruto shrugged, skidded on a convenient branch and blasted himself further along. Sakura and Sasuke, hopping along, both nodded in agreement.

Shinobi didn't do forced marches. That's for armies and samurai. You either keep up a comfortable stroll to wherever you are going, or you go like hell as the crow flies on foot, on water or leaping from tree to tree. With the time pressure on them, Naruto opted for the latter, and the team crossed forests, ravines, fields of rice and grain as they hurried forward, forging ahead throughout the day, and now the night.

The scenery changed fast, and you could practically measure your growing distance from Konoha by the more and more surprised reactions of the few locals you saw. The faces they got while crossing the villages at midday in the inner breadbasket of the country that frequently employed shinobi, where the peasants paid them no mind meant they were still close to home. As they got back into the hilly forests further away by afternoon, the boar hunters and mushroom gatherers were more fearful, and as they moved up a minor mountain range by dusk they scared the hell out of a meditating hermit.

Now in the middle of the night, halfway into the mountains he wanted to cross, Naruto hoped it was the cold of the place that had him feel that slight sense of shaking, despite his jacket. It was an odd feeling, considering how much he told himself he'd move every stone to protect the people dear to him, yet here he was, leading them right to danger.  
This was, even he knew, the life of ninja and if someone had to do the job, it was better that it was him, making sure his friends came out all right, but it did come with responsibility. He was making himself much more observant as of late, forging it into a habit he probably already should have, and even out of battle, it was something to maintain. He knew well his teammates, as well as Hinata's limits, but the two other genin coming along were much less well known to him.

As he used a trunk to briefly turn around for the regular checks with Hinata, he also took a short, but hard look at Kiba, Akamaru and Shino. The duo seemed fine, even though the puppy was again nested inside Kiba's jacket rather than jumping ahead - probably still recovering - but Shino, well he was a big question mark. The files on the team Granny and Sensei had him read suggested lesser stamina and a greater frailty than normal as a liability, so he ought to look out for the guy, right? But if Sasuke was any indication, someone quiet like that hardly took well to help. He lead on,keeping an eye on the landscape ahead as much as the team, doing his best to resist jumping into the conversation.

"So anyway, Uchiha, is it true what I heard? Did your clan really have connections with ninja cats?" Kiba snickered, with a quiet, disapproving growl sounding from the depths of his jacket, for once not at Sakura. "That Ino mentioned your folks used to have 'em around."

There was no response, the party sliced through the air in silence.

"So what was it, a summoning contract or a serious cooperation with a bunch of cats, getting them to scratch up people you don't like? Leave dead mice in their beds for intimidation? Vomit on their carpets?" He pushed on and on with a tone that did have Naruto wish for the good old days when he was allowed to make comments like that. And with his attention already on Shino, he almost got the sense of the tiniest, most inaudible snicker from him as well.

"Hm." A well-oiled delivery of Sasuke's favourite response to people being silly came flawlessly, although if a well practiced observer paid closer attention to him, she'd have noticed a small, nervous twitch of the fingers at the mention of a summoning contract.

"Shows what she knows, I say!" Kiba boasted, whether to himself, Akamaru, the nonpresent kunoichi or Sasuke, nobody knew "Ninja dogs, now they get things done! Of course a girl wouldn't know that stuff, 'cause you lot never think right. Right, Akamaru?" A muffled, happy bark came from the depths of his jacket.

The smallest of ruffling noises as a scroll was put away was very successfully concealed, and before they knew it, Kiba and Aamaru had a suddenly scary companion hopping beside them, very, very closely.

"Kiba." A sweet voice and a smile to put his sister's to shame came from the kunoichi. "I did not mean to hurt you or your dog the other day, and I still owed you a decent apology for that. Incidentally, what do you think of my _new_ perfume? I have a whole bottle of it, you know."

There was much silence following that.

* * *

Dawn had caught them at the peak of the mountain.  
Naruto knew well by now his own stamina was different from the genin's so he ordered a break, enough for a small nap for those who needed it and it gave him an opportunity to admire the view, think over the mission.

Geography was never Naruto's strong suit, and as far as he was concerned, a map tended to be just a big blob of green with bits of blue and brown scattered about. It wasn't really real until he saw it with his own eyes, so he ignored the big blue blob by the village Granny said they were to meet their client. There was a lake there, so what?

Looking down at it from the vantage point, he could now see why the place was supposedly a big deal. The lake was truly vast and he'd need Sasuke's or Hinata's eyes to see exactly where it ended on the far side. He could spot dozens of settlements in the distance along the enormous shore, some even bigger than the village they were going to, each with rice fields drawing water from the lake and roads sprouting, connecting them to who knows what other places. Tiny fishermen's boats and ferries were making journeys across the water even this early, and even just on this side Naruto could see dozens of rivers big and small run into or from it. There was no way a map could capture any of that.

He could see to the North the mountains of the Land of Earth, hiding somewhere inside another ninja village just like Konoha, and on the other side of the river snaking its way across the landscape, the end of the Land of Fire.  
He _has_ been outside his country before, so this was no big deal, right?

The village, or rather trading town they were nearing really did sit on an island, though it was hard to even consider that it was manmade and artificial. Dejima town was self-fashioned free port sitting on the middle of the lake of one of the biggest border rivers of the continent, the memories from Kakashi-sensei's lectures delivered to a clone now came to the forefront of his mind, something convenient enough for all the local lords to allow to exist, where the embargoes and politics of trade did not matter, where you could find just about anything made or grown on the continent.  
Only now did Naruto really understand what Granny had meant about the smuggler - to catch and try to bust someone for doing that would be missing the whole point of the place, and probably get you in a lot of trouble too.

His thoughts were disrupted from a pair of yawns, as Kiba and Akamaru, now rested, made their own way for the best view.  
"I still say we could have just gone the distance to the village." He said after approaching, and grunting a hello. Evidently he was no more of a morning person than a few people Naruto knew. "There's bound to be an inn. We coulda slept in a proper bed then." Kiba commented while stretching, careful not to knock off his partner from his usual perching position.

"Don't you like camping and all that nature-y stuff?" Naruto asked, although he was relieved that the dog user seemed to be less confrontational after a rest. It was Sakura-chan who shut him down for him, but all night he was making small comments, trying to stir up trouble, you could read something weird about his behaviour, but it was immediately dropped after Naruto ordered about the rest. Almost as if he'd passed a test for the guy. Did he think Naruto wouldn't notice Shino starting to lag behind, or the small limp he had all day? He'd have to ask Hinata.

"I like nature plenty, but I also like my bed dry and warm or my pillow not filled with damp rocks." Kiba shrugged, settling down beside Naruto and scratching his dog's ear. He offered a small pouch to Naruto. "Here, have some of this stuff. Soldier pill, Izunuka special. We can't have our chuunin passing out with fatigue before the mission, right?"

"Hehehe, I guess you can't!" Naruto broke into his smile, worries gone. He didn't have Kakashi-sensei or Pervy Sage to rely on here, but that's fine, he'd be too busy being the one others relied on for a change. "Now, let's go get the others. I'll go and find Hinata, I think I saw her gather some leaves earlier, you wake up everyone. We can't make this Captain Daehoon wait, right?"

* * *

"Well, whaddya know. There is an inn. Sort of, anyway." Naruto noted as the party wandered down the main street.

Inventing his first jutsu had Naruto do his fair share of research, but it was hardly as if he really _got_ what the fancy pictures were about. Reproducing a few of them with his own tweaks and additions produced some hilarious outbursts from adults, and that was all he ever thought of the topic in general. Were the group to enter the building in question, he suspected that the women dressed up a bit like Geisha might give a whole new education on the subject.  
He hardly needed the prospect of angering Sakura-chan or disappointing Hinata to make the leadership decision not to subject the group to that sort of learning.

Knowing what he did, Naruto on some level still expected a fishing village similar to Inari's, and he was half right. For starters this place too had a bridge, leading from the nearest shore and over the lake, right to the main gates. There were nets hung up at the back of the houses with fish hung off of them to dry in the sun, he could see a dozen tiny boats under construction in workshops, but at the same time it was all different. Instead of the rickety bamboo docks barely held together with string, the ports surrounding Dejima were made of sturdy, well maintained and even decorated stone. Inari's village was one easily terrorized by a bunch of goons, while this place hired, trained and clothed them to keep itself safe. The buildings had fresh painting; even the locals' dogs seemed happier and much less starved as they barked away at the group.

Dodging the mild chaos starting up as the morning grew older they passed stalls in the middle of being set up, crates getting packed, barrels rolled into place and children generally getting underfoot. The odd early merchant has already began touting their wares, from greasy food to fortune telling, trinkets and finery to dimly glowing crystals that promised anything from wealth and fortune to making that wart in that awkward place disappear. The day was much too early for the gamblers and drinkers to get up just yet (Naruto half wondered if he'd find Ero-Sennin among them), and the harbour was still quiet, but the traffic of goods coming in on foot beside them was enough just by itself to amaze Naruto and dwarf even the wildest of festivals he'd seen in Konoha. A man, clearly sleepy, urging a camel by their side to quicken its pace made a cover slip off and revealed a cargo of colourful birds, statues and gems that would make any eye sparkle with amazement.

It all made Naruto wish he wasn't here on a mission and had time to look around. Here the worst he'd be taken for would be an easy mark, which was far preferable to being chased off. Just like when he visited Tanzaku with Jiraiya, it was an alien experience, being treated as just a kid. Well, until people spotted his headband, making a world of difference.

"A ship, Master Shinobi? All day and all night they come, with goods to water your mouth! Why I have here the most exquisite..." A blatant show of Naruto's poor, empty wallet fortunately made a world of difference once more. "Oh. Ya could'a said so much. Who ya after?"

"A Captain Daehoon. Uh, the ship's name I got here, and Kiba if you messed with my scroll I am so kicking your ass for it, is _The Rusty Old B_..., eh, well the ship's name is _this_." Naruto, slightly surprising Sasuke and Sakura already groaning at how he was going to show a mission scroll to some unknown merchant, took the time instead to pull out a piece of paper from a pocket and wrote down the offensive ship name. With Sakura-chan around, there were certain words you did not say, if you valued the continued possession of your teeth.

"Daehoon, Daehoon... doesn't ring a bell. But the ship, sure! It's ought to be coming up any minute now if I know right. Look for the North-Western port. Off ya go and good luck to ya..." He waited until the party of junior shinobi departed. "... ya bunch of uppity brats. Especially with where that one's heading. But Daehoon? Did the old dog sell on that rusty old...?" But such musings never turn a profit, and before the merchant was conscious of it, he was already sweet-talking another easy mark he'd instinctively spotted.

The docks were easy enough to find, and to Naruto's relief they'd gotten there in time. How the hell did Sensei manage that all the time? For the first time in the last twenty four hours, there was nothing to do but sit and wait for their client, watch the fishermen's routine and enjoy the few moments of peace. Well, that is what would have been sensible, but Naruto found himself pacing impatiently, scanning the approaching and departing ships.

"Any minute now. Is that- nah, another fishing boat." He turned on his heel, body still used to constant movement. Sometimes he envied the way others could just exhaust themselves and get the ability to sit down, contended for a long time.

"A large ship is coming." Sasuke warned, indicating the direction with a nod, and indeed it wasn't long before people with regular eyes too could make out the vague shape detaching itself from the fog in the distance.

Naruto looked, forced his eyes, annoyed to try and find whatever everyone else was looking at like that. Finally, after a couple of painful seconds of straining his eyes, he finally gave in.  
"But I don't see any ships coming, only that eyeso- oh."

The Land of Fire did not have much in the way of nautical culture. There were no great legends of exploration or battles fought at sea. Growing up in Konoha, the heartland of the continent, Naruto never really included ships in his childhood fantasies. Furthermore he knew very well that what they'd need to protect would be something fit for navigating the rivers of the continent, rather than the seafaring and grandiose constructs that sprang to mind.  
But still when hearing you will be on a ship as a guard, there are expectations. A graceful body of wood gliding across the water filled the imagination, capturing the wind with pure white sails. Naruto's gut told him there ought to be happy singing echoing off the main deck, and the whole vessel ought to have just a hint of some alcoholic aroma to it that he had no name for.

What approached over the water instead fell very far from his ideas. There was no singing for starters nor any sails for that matter, ship lurched ahead aided by a set of oars arranged like wheels, paddling ahead with an uneven, lurching motion. The whole thing groaned and heaved with all the grace of a drunken cow. The ship's hull reminded him of an upside down old boot, it sat much too deep in the water, the paint that was probably once red now looked closer to black and the grin on the horse-like figurehead at the front was unsettling.  
With creaks and groans, the ugly monster dragged itself to port.

Naruto was alone in his disappointment at the arrival of the flared up all around them: dock hands tended to ropes to secure the ship, and a figure that had to be the captain climbed down a rope ladder besides the odd wheel of oars, banging the ship's side cargo door strongly enough that the door opened. With the business of unloading and trying to talk to the small crowd around him, the captain was busy which gave Naruto time enough to take a good look at the man.

The first thing to note that he was huge. Of course most people were, from Naruto's point of view, but this guy towered well above the small crowd surrounding him and the way he easily picked up a crate that, once handed to a dock-hand was revealed to be something that only two regular people could carry made Naruto wonder why exactly he hired on protection. He wore a traditional straw hat, painted the same red that the ship must once have been, and most of his face was caught up is a huge mess of a beard that still had bits of food and fish bone stuck in it. Naruto was hardly obsessed with neatness, but even he was a bit off put at what must once have been a simple white vest, now a layered record of historic meals, sweat and black stuff that must have been oil. He fit the description in the mission scroll, except much, much dirtier than how he imagined the man.

"Oh, thank you, Kwan-san" a large woman marvelling at a small box thanked the man enthusiastically, her outburst slowing Naruto's and the team's approach. Kwan? Did they have the wrong ship?

"Yeah, yeah don't sweat it madam. To your service and all that." The captain muttered, quietly enough that only a shinobi's ears would pick it up, and gobbed into the lake.

As the general dock hands cleared out the cargo to be removed, the cargo hold came to resemble more and more an actual room. Stacks of small crates were cleared out, and one by one the crowd of minor nobles and merchants lessened, until just a small group remained, waiting less and less patiently. Naruto and his team were content watching, the earlier confusion settled by confirming the ship's name and a pattern they've picked up. Small, private conversations with some more notable business partners all had a detail different.

"Damn it, Chul, I am one of your best customers, and here you are, making me wait..."

"Are you sure no one knows I ordered this, Yeong? If my wife found out..."

"Oho, my good friend, Captain Myeong! I insist, next time you are in town we must share a drink! I have a perfect bottle of..."

Crate after crate the goods flowed, name after name was attached to the man in conversations. Naruto found the idea of using false names, and that many at that an annoying idea, but he had something else to occupy his mind: a shady figure edging his way around the small crowd. There wasn't much time to think; a look at Hinata got her attention and had her check, she nodded and gave the hand signal for danger.

It took a fraction of a second to notify the other genin as well, each of them approaching through the crowd at different angles. The man got a good metre closer to the captain by the time they started.

Nartuto slipped under a crate carried between two dock hands, buying him precious time, and spotted an every day utility knife, held inexpertly by the approaching figure. The captain, in the middle of haggling still had his back turned.

Pushing on, Naruto was in arms' reach now, but so was the man of his target. It was a wordless, chakra-fuelled dashing fraction of a second that Naruto caught his knife with his tanto. Metal clashed with metal, but the heavier blade prevailed easily, knocking it out of the man's hand.  
As the would be killer's expression changed from dirty determination to surprise, he also found his legs trapped by a small mass of bugs clinging to it, but he didn't have time to turn to fear or revulsion with that, because a leaping roundhouse kick from a dark haired boy hit him right in the face, sending him crashing right into the cargo hold.

That would have ended the first fight to protect their client, without so much as words exchanged, Naruto considered, however at that point, something inconvenient happened.  
Cargo, as it turned out, is not often packed for safety, but for making sure as much is crammed into as little a space as possible.  
A couple of boxes fell on the assaulter's impact, but that was not the real problem. The real problem was that someone used them to prop up something larger, a somewhat rusty metal cage, that now fell and shattered on the deck.  
Its occupant was clearly not very happy about that.

Orange, striped, nasty looking and really much bigger than what you imagined when you heard of tigers, the creature unrolled itself, too a look at the passed out human behind it, then fixed its eye on the other humans and the gasping crowd behind them. After a week of so of being stuck in a dusty, dark place, barely fed, it was not in the best of moods.

Depending on how close they were to the beast, people screamed, gasped, or awaited a show while trying to look out for a way of safely getting away.

"The hell were you transporting a tiger for?" Without proper introductions, Naruto hissed at the man he was to protect.

"Someone paid me for it." He was seemingly nonchalant about the animal. "'Sides, it's about time your lot arrived. Now go on, hop to it, take care of that thing..."

"Is that truly it?!" Someone from the back of the crowd yelled, much too joyous for breathing the same air as an escaped tiger. "Oh, she looks wonderful, you've done a splendid job, captain! I shall name her Makaio-chan! And you kids, don't you dare harm her!"

"... though I'd appreciate it if you did it without killin' it." The captain added, shrugging.

Naruto's head was full of ideas what to do, and he had no idea where to go with any of them in the fleeting time he had. The animal was getting angrier at the persisting crowd and no clear way to escape. Could he get Hinata to some how incapacitate it? Or Sasuke to- nah. Maybe Shino's bugs or Kiba's knowledge of animals could...

"I got it!" Even Naruto was surprised when Sakura was the one to step up, approaching the animal.

"Sakura-chan? I don't think..." Naruto tried to warn the girl.

"Shut it, you moron! It's an animal, the best thing for me to test something on. You are not the only one who got a gift for performing well on the mock test." She did not add a 'suck it, Ino'. Some things didn't need to be said.

Naruto held out a hand to stop the approach of the rest of the group. One person was enough, and if Sakura thought she could do it, well, he was happy for his teammate take charge for once.

She locked eyes with the huge cat, hands slowly forming seals. A primitive, unguarded animal mind was far easier than a human, she considered, and the problem she's been thinking of solving seemed to disappear with the difference. Half-hypnotism, half genuine jutsu, the technique was simple, an apprentice's tool, but that was all she would need.

A minute was spent in quiet, the tiger and the girl transfixed on each other, before the animal's eyes rolled back and it lost consciousness.

"'Bout damn time." The captain said over the sounds of the cheering crowd, spitting in the lake again. "Nice to meet ya all and what have you, now please get the hell outta my cargo hold. There's still stuff to pass on, and this silly bastard will have to be given over to whatever passes for law enforcement."

"But someone just tried to murder you!" Naruto burst out, watching the man lift the tiger and shove it back into the broken crate before passing it on to a very, very nervous pair of labourers.

"Yup. Round these parts, that's normal if you invented what I have. I'll show ya around in due time. But just to make sure, you lot ARE the shinobi I ordered from Konoha, right? To protect me upriver?" He said, absent-mindedly kicking his would be killer to check if he was conscious. As Naruto nodded, the man added. "Didn't think I ordered the fun size package. Well I hope you can do your jobs better than just now, I'm sure you shattered some valuable cargo back here."

Naruto didn't like where this was headed, but tried his best to go on in the spirit of a real, professional shinobi.  
"Client, Captain Daehoon, we are to protect you as per your contract with our village." He recounted the official lines as best as he could. He indicated the team behind him "your protectors will be-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure all ya kids are real impressive. If you can kick a bandit in the groin real hard so that I don't have to, I don't much care beyond that. I'm sure there will be time enough for introductions. Now I still got some cargo and a departure time, so for now you oughta protect me from being late. I paid a small fortune to that old b... I mean your esteemed Hokage, least I can get is some work out of ya, eh?"

"Oi, Captain Whatsyourname!" Naruto was losing his temper. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my team! We're shinobi, and damn good ones too! And you got us to protect you, so you better act grateful." Naruto thumped his jacket with indignation.

"I'll act grateful when I'll not have to pay premium and end up with mouthy kids for protection. Shoulda known better than to trust that old cow of a woman, I suppose." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a scroll like Naruto's, with the exception that it was full of oil stains. "Uzumaki, Uzumaki. I swear I heard the name somewhere, but it doesn't mention your name here. In any case it seems like I'm stuck with you, so the least you can do is earn me the money I paid for ya."

A nasty beard shook with his laughter.  
Naruto was already regretting having been rude to Tazuna. The bridge builder, by comparison, seemed like an ideal client.  
With a sigh and nod to the team, they got to helping the cargo getting unpacked.

* * *

A few hours of labour later, even Naruto welcomed the odd mechanical whistle signalling their departure.

"Next stop, the Land of Earth!" The captain's voice boomed from a cabin towering atop the other decks. "The _Rusty Old B..._ um, I mean" he looked at the kids " _The Barge_ is departing!"

Nobody knew what all those levers and cranks did up in the captain's cabin, but he worked them diligently. Unlike with other ships, there was no scurrying of crew, because as their work has taught the group, this captain sailed alone on his ship, driven by something he was eager to show off and try to explain, but which to Naruto still sounded like just a big kettle.

Naruto took a last look at the town from the vantage of the deck, and with the sudden, mechanical jolt the ship disembarked, his almost-fall managed to nearly knock Hinata off her feet beside him as well. That initial jolt done, the boat slowly jerked itself out of the harbour, leaving its temporary crew free for a while.

Once on the open water of the enermous lake and heading north towards the distant main river feeding into it, the motion of the ship seemed to smoothen out, enough for Naruto to feel comfortable on his feet without holding onto the railing. A quick look around proved that the rest of the team was fine as well. The worst damage seemed to be Shino's and Kiba's dropped cards.

"Phew. Never thought that tiny kettle thing could make a ship like this shake so much." Naruto awkwardly said as they let go of each other's arms they grabbed for stability, and he quietly returned to enjoying the view, screening out the voices of Kiba accusing his friend of cheating.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" Hinata's voice was almost lost in the middle of the latest splash of a paddle, but Naruto still found himself turning towards her instinctively. She again seemed to react strangely to that, but continued on. "Would you, um, would you like to continue training together? Sparring? We, well we have the time and I thought..."

"I'd love to, Hinata!" Naruto cheered up. Beyond all the worries of the present situation he's been trying to come up with a way of asking her to go on sparring, and much as it was unexpected, he welcomed the opportunity. "So, wanna start now? I'm still not that used to my new weapon, y'know."

"A-are you sure, Naruto-kun? I'm happy to help with hand to hand combat or chakra exercises, but you know I'm no good at weapons. I'm sure Kiba-kun or Shino-kun could help you out much better. Or your own teammates." It was good to see Hinata work her courage up lately, so to see her deflate like that made Naruto regret his suggestion immediately.

"Yep, I'm sure! I guess they could help too but you are much more fun to train with." Naruto was not much good at trying to cheer people up, but seeing her downcast face brighten up was more than worth it. "You got things you are not good with, okay. I bet you I got more. Isn't the point of training together to help out each other?"

"I, um, I suppose so."

"Good. You wanna spar, then?"

The response was Hinata taking some steps back and towards the centre of the deck, adjusting her posture. Naruto grinned, and the duo began the warm up steps to a spar.

Sakura gave up on trying to find Sasuke in the corridors of the ship, sighed, and decided to go back to studying her scroll. If that thing worked on an animal, all she would need to really have the technique down was just a couple of things. And getting it down right might just impress Sasuke, finally.

Sasuke breathed more easily once he confirmed she was gone, and without the prospect of audience barging in on him began the breath exercises for Mitarashi's technique for keeping the mark at bay.

Kiba finally managed to beat Shino in their game and over the next round they watched the little sister neither of them had finally get some courage and make some progress.

Life was good.

 **OMAKE**

Shikamaru really wished mules were more agreeable. He thought it was a great idea to disguise the group and their delivery , posing as wanderers. It would have gotten attention away from them and even let him watch the clouds as much as he wanted while they made their way to the target with the package. He even got some well-off peasants near Konoha who did business with his family to loan them the cart and something to pull it.  
Perhaps he should have been more concerned at the minor snickering.

A cloud floating by reminded him of a gourd, some unpleasant memories to wave away and their destination. If he knew his luck, he could just about guess who their welcoming party would be.  
Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing that the damn animal preferred to chew at the roadside weeds to doing its job.

"I still say we should do the stick and carrot trick." Tenten volunteered her solution while treating Lee, whose youthful speech to the animal only got him a hoof-shaped bruise.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Tenten-san." Ino interjected, watching Chouji's eyes twitch. Gai-sensei's methods were effective but cruel, and left some very unpleasant memories with the genin.

"Well can't you just switch into its mind and pull us, then?" Tenten's question had Ino's eye twitching too.

"I'm not about to disgrace myself with something like that, not to mention use a clan technique for a small purpose like that." Ino turned to Neji. "And speaking of clan techniques, isn't there some super special point you can poke with that damned Gentle Fist of yours to make it more agreeable? I bet if Sasuke-kun were here he'd have figured out a solution by now."

"If there is, I do not know of it. And please don't mention that... person to me again." Neji may have been on the path to a lighter world view these days, but every now and again, he did remind his fellow genin that not that long ago he was a feared figure among them, not one to annoy with remdiners of unpleasant incidents.

The sun shone, bugs buzzed and they were thoroughly stumped, out of ideas and stuck on the side of the road.  
Well, they would have been, if Lee was not present, that is.

Before anyone was the wiser the reins were off the animal.

"A challenge that defies a genius?" He asked with eyes shining of hope and new determination. "Fine! No trickery! Mule-san! I acknowledge your will, but I shall break it! For the good of the mission! For Konoha! For YOUTH!"

"What is he doing?"

"Where did he get that hat from?"

"Why is he waving it around?"

"How is he staying on the mule?"

"WATCH ME GAI-SENSEI! _YEEE-HAW_!"

Life was strange.

* * *

 **AN:**

A note on a couple of things.

You may have noticed that I have taken some liberties with the world here. Namely the invention of a massive border river and a huge lake, plus a trading town on an artificial island (named after a real place I happened upon apropos of something else, but it was a far more appropriate name than what I made up for it just on my own).

The Turtle River forms the border between the Land of Fire, the Land of Hot Springs, the Land of Rice Fields/Sound Territory, all the way through the border with Hidden Waterfall territory, where it turns and forms the border between Grass and Waterfall, finally making its way North, all the way up to the Land of Earth. I always figured that for a world like Naruto's you really needed some very definite borders, not the mutually agreed lines in the sand, and you can't really get more sure of it than a massive, sprawling river right between you.

As for the _Barge_ , imagine a cross-breed of the classical steam paddling riverboats of old (very rickety, experimental and haphazardly tinkered into shape) and an Atakebune, appropriated for working in a river as a trading vessel.


	12. Encounter

**Chapter 11 - Encounter**

The soft, slow, rocking motion ruled the senses.  
It grew steadily, ceased to be even and sped up to the point of nausea. Unbearable heat and chilling cold came and went with its rhythm.  
Naruto's breathing followed suit, faster and faster, the motion came to dictate the steps he was taking now, and before he knew it he was in a mad rush.

The unruly corridors of the _Barge_ stretched out before him as he ran, feeling as if through syrup until he faltered and slammed into a pipe - or was it a tree trunk?  
Under his feet he could feel the dried leaves of a forest floor, his next step splashed into water, then he slipped on treacherous sand as he almost fell and touched the ground below him he felt a familiar stonework.

He had no time to think on this, barely any to breathe; a red zeal has taken hold of him, he felt his heartbeat rush through his body as he ran. Away from or toward something? Was it fear or rage that took hold of him, blurred his vision, flooded his mind? He couldn't tell, his thoughts were fuzzy, struggling to understand what he was seeing.

Why didn't his rush along the Hokage Mansion's corridors, in the middle of the night, attract guards? What was he doing her- his next step was onto a familiar clearing. A rush and desperate tumble came out of nowhere, and a familiar figure lay against him motionless, with a huge shuriken buried deep in his back, and - the pain caught up only now- connecting them, ending well in Naruto's guts. The scroll was gone, and another figure in the distance barely spared them a contemptuous laugh before making his escape.  
Naruto wanted to scream and shout Iruka-sensei's name, but he was once again running. The mansion flashed by, green forests were a blur around him, badly lit, wet walls rushed at his side then the labyrinthine insides of the _Barge._

He tried to gather himself in vain. The ropes and wood beams keeping the unfinished bridge upright creaked with the wind, the mist made it hard to see – but he did make out the pin-laden body of Sasuke, saw Kakashi-sensei hacked to pieces by Zabuza's fearsome blade. Haku and the Demon of the Mist then turned towards him. He was too scared to run.

He was back in the Forest of Death. A scream echoed for a moment in the distance, and a heartbeat later he was at its source: Orochimaru finishing off his team, a deformed body coiling up as he turned towards Naruto. The grotesque man licked his lips and stretched out towards him faster than he could react. The certainty of what would follow felt almost like relief.

He was unable to cry out or move to help as Neji beat Hinata within an inch of her life in the proving hall, then watched in terror as following her defiant words he delivered a killing blow to her heart. Enraged he lunged towards him, now in the arena, but he was too weak and too slow to even defend himself let alone avenge her. The same palms that struck her now slipped past his defences and landed on him again and again until the final, lethal strike.

The last shred of humanity disappeared from behind Gaara's eyes as the sand began its latest surge over his body. It ceased to be a willing channelling of the monster and became a takeover, the humanoid shape grew and shifted to fit the image of what it contained. From the heights of the reborn sand giant, a discarded and tiny corpse fell down, crashing into the ground by his side. The body was twisted and broken, empty of the person that was so much like Naruto. He barely even noticed the sand claw bearing down on him.

This was all wrong. None of this was supposed to go like this!

What he saw made him angry. Damn angry. He was boiling with rage, enough to set the fear aside, beat the urge to run away and make him charge forward. He would not let any of that happen! He hasn't before and wouldn't now! He charged ahead faster and faster, felt his veins flood and pulse with chakra, all the cornered emotions coming to a bursting point - until there was a pop, a breach to someplace else.

He could no longer find the forests, the corridors, the hall, arena or the bridge.  
Stone walls around him, the ankle deep water, it was familiar and as he wandered the flooded passages, rage ran out and leaving only vague dread, his mind seemed to get clearer and clearer. His legs needed no command to take him along the paths, nearing the centre of the maze.

Something about that rage had brought him here. The things he'd seen, was this all a dream? The water, the walls, even if it was all unreal, there was... substance.  
That familiar red penetrating everything before now emptied out of him, and the direction it withdrew showed him the way.  
Step after hesitant step he reached what must have been the central chamber. His ears could make out the low rumble of an enormous pair of lungs, and his eyes warned of a massive silhouette behind the line of bars separating them.

" **Naruto.** "

He has been here before, of course. It was in the midst of battle, out of desperation. Now the power of emotions that drove him here were gone, leaving him all alone with the gigantic monster peering down at him from behind the bars.

"You!" He managed to call out. "The hell did you do to me? Genjutsu?" He tried and failed to keep his voice from shaking. It was probably not a very good idea to not be on the offensive here.

" **Genjutsu?** " The laughter of the creature hit Naruto like a gale of wind. " **I'd have gotten free from this pit long, long ago if it were that easy. This seal is a most cruel thing.** " A deafening screech of metal as an enormous paw lazily swiped across the bars. " **But you and I have to talk.** "

"Well I am not talking with you, Fox, until you tell me what you did to me!" Naruto pushed on, hands in fists and voice raised. "And until I got your word you won't do it again!"

" **My word? Gahahahah!** " Waves washed the walls high as the roaring laughter kept up. " **Words are a human thing, and you stink of worry that whatever I tell you will be a lie.** **Still... amusement, and the little confirmation you gave me should have its rewards.** " A gigantic head was lowered, an eye larger than Naruto leveled with the boy. " **This seal is a nasty piece of work. No other prison has been quite as complete as this one. It's painless, even, unlike my last one, lulling me to sleep, almost comfortable as it leeches off my power. It is also... restrictive. But persistence enough can make something small slip by the tightest of guard, and at the right time, that much is enough. A tiny push can send a sleeping mind to the things it fears, and fear leads you scampering, right to me.** "

Naruto gulped with apprehension. He didn't like the sound of that, and the last vision of Gaara, mixed with the real memories of the fight. It also brought a few memories to the surface: half-forgotten memories of dreams, of wandering these corridors and a hulking, silent mass.

" **Your mind tastes foul, different, human. The one you'd call the One Tail is truly mad if he tried to influence his captor like this.** " Gigantic tails swirled with disgust. " **But, as I said, we have something to discuss, Naruto.** "

"Foul? You're not the one staring into a huge red eye and nasty yellow teeth y'know!" Naruto almost forgot about where he was for a moment, or what he was talking to. "But fine. You wanna talk, then talk."

" **More uppity than usual, I see.** " A small tsunami swept across the sewer as the captive moved its massive paws and rested its head on them. " **The last time you met one of my kind, I decided not to warn you. There were promising circumstances. But now, something is different. I sense my trapped kin...** "

"Uh, trapped kin? Like a brother or sister, put into someone like me or Gaara?" Naruto quickly regretted interrupting, seeing the reaction, but the question still hung in the air.

" _ **Hrrr.**_ **Trapped. Demeaned, harnessed and made use of like a common cow. Traded and bargained with, siphoned with half-baked skills! Tiny and mundane creatures tormenting their betters, hungering for power beyond their scope!** " The fox growled from behind the bars." **So yes, trapped.** **Sealed inside an abomination you people have dreamt up. 'Jinchuuriki'. You are all a testament to depravity, but at least you should refer to them – and yourself – properly.** " If a monster was capable of bitterness, this was it, stronger even than its malice.

"...Jinchuuriki." Naruto tried the sound of the word in his mouth, more concerned with it than the Fox for the moment. What he and Gaara were created to be, he never before had a word for it, to try and pin it down, deal with it. Not that it was a fun thing to learn, since even the monster in front of him regarded the very idea as abomination, whatever the word meant. Chances were it wasn't nice. "Can you feel one nearby? Can you tell me who it is?"

" **You are asking if I can tell where, in what droplet an ocean is hidden. 'Nearby' is a human concept fit for your scale. Should you fight, both will become obvious.** " The tails stirred with annoyance.

"So why the nightmare, why try to tell me?" Sounding authoritative was hard enough to try with his team, and trying it here, against that thing, it was hardly worth the effort. But the Fox had to have a reason, Naruto could tell that much.

" **Because it is different, what I feel there. I know what you people have done to us, I know the way your prodding greedy hands upon us feels like. I've endured being sealed away, being harnessed, even commanded. Something is wrong now, and the victim finds no rest, no bargain. Should you fight, and something snap, even if I were to help you none other would survive.** "

Naruto was baffled. The reason for all his rejections, the monster that had him become a reject feared by almost all, it (he?) wanted to talk to him about a danger, warning of something that could threaten those dear to him. Was this a ploy? A dream after all? An attempt to manipulate him, like that other monster did Gaara? He'd not let that happen, and maybe Hinata's politeness was really rubbing off on him, but he couldn't just let that go.  
"Huh, I suppose I should thank you. Both the warning, and the name for this whole sealing thingie."

" **A polite little human! For once not asking for my power yet, how nice. You are welcome, Naruto.** " Was a fox supposed to be able to express anything dripping with sarcasm? " **Besides, I wouldn't want you to see those dear to you dying. Not until it's at the right place and right time, enough to break you, and me free of confinement, so I can burn your blasted village and everything you cherish to a crisp. It's a matter of principles, you understand. Now begone.** "

Naruto watched a maw with teeth larger than him open, first in what he thought was another growl, but the opening jaw and curling tongue made him realise he just witnessed the largest, most terrifying yawn in the world.  
Before he had a chance to scream, the world around him shattered.

* * *

"-gah!" Naruto bolted upright. This was a worse nightmare than even the nastiest expired milk visions he's had over the years.  
A wet nose poking him, then canine teeth softly biting down on his hand to wake him up did little to calm him down either.

"Oi, Naruto, get up already. It's your turn to keep watch." Kiba's voice seemed less harsh than usual, possibly out of being tired, or just from showing some surprising restraint in the small hours of the morning. "Man, you look bad. Are you okay? I could pull a few more hours if-"

"Nah, nah, I'm okay. Just a nightmare." Naruto rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and yawned. As the small dog responded with a yawn of its own, the sight had a chill crawl its way down his back.

"Really? What was it about?" Kiba asked while unrolling his own bedroll, quiet to make sure he did not wake up anyone else. The rickety divider wall Sakura insisted they put up to cut the room into girls' and boys' halves did little to filter out noise, and both boys had an inkling that unpleasantness would ensue if they were to wake her up.

The captain did give them some relatively decent accommodations at least, a large cabin that sat right on top of the main deck, just under the smaller cabin full of levers, wheels and controls of all kinds. All that was missing was actual beds, and well, they could have done without the lingering smell of goats. Still, it beat tenting and gave them more comforts than it was usual on missions, so Naruto considered himself lucky with that much.

"It was the damned fo- fire. Ichiraku's ramen stand was on fire and I couldn't do anything." Naruto bit off his sentence, turning it into an embarrassed laugh. That _was_ a frequent nightmare, after all.

"I just get family staple one about fleas. But you are dreaming about that stuff already?" Kiba asked, half-laughing, shaking his head as he got into his bedroll. "It hasn't even been three days you've gone without it, and already you are going crazy over it."

"Heh heh, well, ya know me." Naruto stretched and got up. "Going without Ichiraku on missions is the hardest part about them! Rations and soldier pills just don't really cut it, so when I get back I just blow all my pay on ramen."

"Not everyone can be as lucky as Team Eight, eh? We totally have all the others beat when it comes to food on missions." Kiba scratched Akamaru's ear and grinned at Naruto. "Hinata is a real treasure when it comes to cooking, isn't she?" He added with an expression that Naruto couldn't place. Still, he was right.

"You're telling me? I had three helpings, remember? Don't tell it to old man Ichiraku I said it, but her fish soup might be actually close to his ramen." Naruto whispered at Kiba conspiratorially. Bringing along nets and fishing rods in scrolls, considering the mission was alongside a river, was one of his happiest leadership decisions yet. Taking the time while the captain stopped for minor adjustments and having a real group dinner was more than worth it too. A large group gathering around a table (at night the final piece to Sakura's barricade), having a good time and eating together was even better than just getting along by the stall. The way it felt, well, Naruto wondered if having family dinners was anything like that.

Still, he felt guilty about one thing.  
"But I kinda feel bad about letting her cook. It seemed to take a lot out of her."

"Seriously? She loves cooking, does it all the time for us." Kiba made a face at him.

"So what, does she faint all the time on missions? That seems dangerous." Naruto returned the expression, with a good deal of confusion thrown in there for good measure.

"Oh you damn idiot! Didn't you notice anything specific about her fainting?"

"Well, it was after my second helping..." Naruto probed the memory.

"Yes?"

"And I noticed that she was watching me eat..." He went on.

"Yes?"

"So I told her that it was really, really good and that I'd love it if she made food for us like that again. And then she went real red and then fainted." He concluded with a nod.

"Yes!"

"So the cooking must have really tired her out, right?" That seemed to tie it up.

"Argh! You really are hopeless." Kiba's groan and a low whine from Akamaru came at the same time. Naruto watched in confusion as one half of the duo covered his face with a pillow and the other with his paws, with apparent disapproval.

"Eh, whatever, you're making no sense. I'm going to go keep watch. Good night. Or morning. You know."

* * *

Shino kept a very alert watch.

At night, the winds were ust right for his allies to venture out on reconnaissance, bring him back information about a large area surrounding them. Everything was in order, which was just the way Shino preferred it. The mist that rose off the river possessed a sublime beauty of its own. The various night-life insects thrived in the reeds, and their hums reminded him of home. The ever-present noises of a million productive activities always brought him a sense of belonging and profound peace.  
It either did that or reminded you that should your chakra fall below a certain threshold, your control over your allies will falter, they will find themselves trapped and without directions inside your body, and attempt to eat, claw and crawl their way out.  
Shino much preferred the sense of peace.

Alas, a quiet like that on this mission was not one to last.  
"Hey, Shino!" The leader of the mission, evidently unbothered by the time of night or the concept of subtlety, gave him a cheerful yell that almost made him cringe. He seemed to be carrying a small bundle of nets. "How are ya holding up?"

"Satisfactorily." He replied, adjusting his position at the perching spot atop the control cabin, releasing a small, chakra-enhanced pheromone signal to his allies to call them back. He appreciated the energies of the team leader, and the attitude was much like that of his friend, however with him awake, his chakra signature could become a most unwelcome distraction. "Why? Because the night has been quiet, with no signs of enemies."

"Anything I should know about?" Naruto said, absentmindedly creating a number of clones and sending them to the sides of the ship to catch their next meals for them, like before. For all the overtness of their leader's techniques, Shino had to admit it was agreeable to see some of the simple and practical uses of them .

"Nothing of substance." Shino reported.

"Good, good. Just yell if you need anything, I'll be at the front!" The orange figure, practically glowing in the fog, departed for his own watch position, leaving behind only his copies already hard at work.

"It is called the bow." The quiet correction, complete with an adjustment of glasses, went unnoticed.

Shino has learned to appreciate people's differences. In his own clan there was a way of doing things, but that did not necessarily apply to everyone else. It wasn't better or worse, merely different, but he couldn't help but oftentimes still prefer the expressions from home. He was a firm believer in that thoughts should be well digested before speaking them, and their presentation should be a truth arrived at, merely needing confirmation.

That view was not all that prevalent in the Academy. The teachers demanded questions be asked before the necessary thought was put into developing an answer, and from his classmates he had seen an impressive display of all behaviours irrational. It was with his team that he had come to appreciate the way in which someone could be brash and loud but sincere and dependable, or that being withdrawn or hesitant does not necessarily indicate a lack of conviction. The experience had helped him now, where in addition to the eccentricities he was tolerant of, a whole new team's worth of them was added. The fact that the greatest concentration of eccentricities was also the figure of authority and the decision-maker was not lost on him.

Fairness however was a virtue Shino felt justified to claim for his own and he had to admit that the eccentricities in question have grown more tolerable over the recent period, his teammate's influence no doubt. He has even shown a surprising degree of discretion; it didn't take much for Shino to puzzle together for whose benefit they held breaks for. Much like Kiba's verbal spars around town that left him more energised, or how Hinata seemed to find herself these days, Naruto too was on a new path. Still, however welcome, these changes weren't the norm, leaving Shino to question when such changes, seemingly all over his cohort, would finally come and claim him.

It was hardly as if the Aburame clan was free of such oddities: he recalled an especially talented cousin starting to neglect specialised training in favour of private trips to the village, which was met not by discipline but knowing smiles and even a wink or two. The idea of him too developing habits like that or worse, well the idea was a distraction to be mindful of in the middle of watch.

Certainly there were plenty of external distractions too to filter: his returning allies' reports, doubtless confused by Naruto's chakra, some of the stranger bits of wooden debris floating downriver the clones had caught, or indeed with their duties done, the clones preferring to read scrolls or practice hand seals rather than dispelling themselves. With nature coming alive as dawn neared, gears creaking and the steam racing along the pipes laid all over the ship's insides, the ship was full of activity.  
For some reason, Shino didn't seem to mind.

* * *

Still trying to clear his head, Naruto got into position, yawning. Maybe being so comfortable was not exactly chuunin-like, but he figured he must have done enough of that to allow himself a small break, while keeping watch alone. He'd made as good a schedule of duties as he could, bearing the jobs in mind and made sure they were ready in case they ran into any of the border skirmishes. He kept rough track of the supplies they had on hand - one time growing up an orphan and having to do this stuff by routine actually helped - and even convinced the captain to allow setting up a small target on one of the larger wooden railings, giving the genin something to do.

This chuunin business, as he technically knew but never experienced, was a lot less exciting than he thought at the start, with mostly just making sure everything went as smoothly as possible. He just hoped being Hokage would make up for all this dull stuff eventually.  
(Incidentally miles and miles away, already hard at work on the latest load of documents to sort, Lady Senju Tsunade sneezed and got the strangest urge to laugh with scorn.)

He scanned the horizons, the nearing mountains, forests and rice fields rolling by, half-relying on Hinata's technique to keep his senses sharp. In such a state, it wasn't much of a surprise when a nearby hatch opened with a creak and the Captain's massive, lumbering form climbed his way up from it, with a number of odd-looking devices.

"Evenin'" He grunted a greeting at Naruto. "Or mornin', whichever. Scouted out any baddies yet?" The Captain settled himself down beside him, barely paying attention to Naruto stealing looks at his devices while he too measurements of the stars and nearby landmarks.

"What, afraid you hired us on for nothing?" Naruto asked back, peering at the scribbles on the map the man was making. How a civilian managed to see by the scare light was beyond him. "And what's all this for?" He gestured towards the spyglass, an item he'd always regard with deep suspicion thanks to Ero-Sennin.

"Just making sure we're heading up on the right part of the river. It may be called the Turtle, but this bit might as well be called the Centipede, it splits into so many little legs, mostly ending in a nice, beautiful drop in Waterfall territory. So no, even in the worst case I didn't hire you lot to laze about, there will be plenty for you all to do, besides mopping up the deck." He spat with gusto, hitting and dazing a seagull mid-flight.

"But if you need people for that, why not get an actual crew? Y'know, with oars and all, instead of that weird wheel thing back there." Naruto asked, making himself resist the temptation to attempt the same trick on another unlucky bird. "You wouldn't even have to get us to do the packing for you."

"Hah, kid, let me tell ya, after a couple of days, or weeks of oarin' you're not gonna be in the mood to pack stuff about. Been there, done that, trust me." He turned and mumbled to himself as he estimated the time and likely distance they've made since leaving the lake. "'Sides, put together a thing like I have, and suddenly folks aren't quite so happy to work for ya, and the fella you stopped at Dejima is some of the nicest reception I get. Turns out if you get the wrong ideas, maybe step on a coupla toes to show people how much easier life could be, they try and make it hard for ya instead. You work your arse off, they ask what it's for, you're all too happy to tell 'em... and the next thing you know is you have a mob that wants to smash it up. So you defend yourself, give the worst ones a good wallop, scare off the rest..."

"...and suddenly you are the bad guy, right?" Naruto finished for him.

"People can be real bastards, kid." For the briefest instance, the Captain ceased to be their coarse client, to reveal something, well, familiar.

"Not everyone! Some people are kind, friendly and good. You just need to notice them." Naruto began, to only a bitter laugh in response. "And doesn't it get dull, if you just trade up and down the river just by yourself?" Even with the response he got, Naruto couldn't help but ask.

"Eh, it's better company than most I've kept over the years. Plus with the debts I got, not having a bunch of people around can make the difference between sleeping soundly and worrying about when it all comes crashing down on ya." Shoulders larger than Naruto's head shrugged. "And it's not like I don't have good times either. One time I got this package..."

* * *

A good while later, Shino was just about to hand over the rear watch to Haruno when he spotted them. A small fleet of boats, flying the local Feudal Lord's flag, its passengers waving the universal signs of wanting to get on board.  
He didn't need to warn Naruto, and by the time he, Sakura and Sasuke showed up to welcome their guests, the chuunin and the Captain had already dropped a rope ladder, hurriedly finishing off a story by the looks of it.

"...so by the time I got there, the Feudal Lord had already gotten himself a whole new wife!" He laughed heartily, and turned to face the new boarders.

Five men, dressed in old fashioned armour climbed on board. Thee of them looked young for samurai, maybe two or so years older than the shinobi, and the few scars they had were not the healed-over old marks of pride and history, but the pink, recent reminders of fights that could have gone a lot better. The leader and by the looks of it, his second in command looked more seasoned, but an observant eye could spot the nicks in the armour, signs of recent, urgent fixes .

"Well I'll be damned." The captain extended an oily hand towards the soldiers, which no one took. "Or honoured, if you wanna. My name is Captain Song. What brings you folks aboard my humble vessel?" This time, perhaps a sign of respect for soldiers, he didn't spit.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, I assure you." Shino took a careful look at the samurai leader who finally spoke up, voice obscured by the heavy and decorated helmet his underlings did not seem to rank high enough to get. His fingers were nervously rapping on the handle of his katana. The other samurai too seemed distracted, eyes darting from their leader to the boat and back. "We are merely here to extend a warning. Our lord has pledged to keep the river secure, but with the recent tensions between the Leaf and Sound" the samurai nervously peered to the forehead protectors "there may be trouble ahead. And even if that section is clear, watch out as you turn north between Grass and Waterfall territory, there's been a lot of trouble there nearly. A lot of... highwaymen, yeah. Really skilled ones. "

"After the disease outbreak, right?" Naruto's question surprised Shino. He had all but readied himself to explain the situation to him later. "I thought the Feudal Lord restored order and everything?"

"Well, it's never that simple. We made sure to burn it all out, and put down the worst of the revolt. But the summer has been lean, and there have been a lot of disappearances." Just for a second too long, the man peered over to the Sound side of the river. "Folk are angry, suspicious and desperate. There's talk of new things, someone powerful stirring things up, starting something new, like the Sound did. As I said, our lord is a good man who tries to keep people safe, but..."

"...but that has limits. It's easier to warn people away than to really do anything about the problem, eh?" The captain leaned forward, towering over the samurai. "Especially if it means getting on the bad side of someone neither the Grass or Waterfall dared remove yet. Well thank you kindly for the warning, but I'm not paying this bunch for nothing. Now, is there anything else you wanted with us, or can we move along?"

"Well, heh, you see we have this new thing." The seasoned warrior practically radiated embarrassment. "Since there's danger ahead, and since there may be salvage rights questions, can we just have your name, what your cargo is, and a number of small questions? It won't take long at all, and it's just to better keep the peace you see..."

"Bureaucrat Samurai. There's a sign the world's gone to hell, if you needed just one more." The captain wiped the oil off his hands and began searching his pockets." You'll be wanting the normal papers I take it? Kids, you better start digging for yours too. This might take a while."

Shino almost smiled when he saw the panicked search of pockets, holsters and even sealing scrolls from his chuunin. It was a relief to see more seriousness and actual competence in one's leader, by all means, but occasionally the sight of the old, irregular and disorganised person underneath could be welcome as well.

* * *

Hinata kept on working in this brief, miraculous time alone in the cargo hold.  
How someone that huge could move so quietly she did not know, but still the measure she had to take to avoid the Captain when he left for the main deck was embarrassing.

She shuddered to think what her family would say if they ever learned of the dishonour she almost brought on their name, being almost found with an activated Byakugan. She could raise in vain the long hours she had evaded the man on his tinkering rounds around the insides of the vessel all the while scanning through the cargo, or even mention the odd circumstances she had to do this, but she knew perfectly well the precise sort of disappointed scowl that would appear on her father's face, new winds blowing in the household or not. In a way that made it worse, making her the one to possibly ruin new beginnings.

She dearly wished she had the will to overcome the long years of politeness and inhibitions, and could get herself to curse something vile until she felt better. Mere wood, in the decks and the walls, never mind the metal and the other components, had no right to behave this way!  
Lacking the rest of the family's innate knack with the eyes, it was difficult enough to keep her Byakugan going after a few hours, not to mention willing the eyes to be able to drill through the heavy metal or even chakra-shielded containers and scan through the contents. Doing so needed her to combine focus and clarity with the field of vision of the eyes, and while that might be child's play to some, it was a teeth-gritting, uphill battle for her that resulted in a swaying balance and her field of vision going between that of the full Byakugan and regular vision, with plenty of ghastly inbetween states.

She was still hopeful she could have dealt with that and avoided the master of the ship without jumping into an empty vase at the last second. What made the difference was the strange nature of the ship all around her.  
From the outside as she stood watch she did not notice it, but activating her eyes in the inside, it was a strange and dizzying feeling. She had heard people say that sailors treated their ships as if they were alive, but she never expected the notion to have any real truth to it. There wasn't any chakra per se in the walls, and she could see through them just fine, but she got the feeling that that changed the moment she looked away. How it managed to do that against the Byakugan she had no idea.

Not that she let such difficulties get in the way of trying her best. He trusted her with this. Part of the mission and Naruto's first commanding position relied on her doing this right, and there was no way she'd let him down. The shadow clone she left back in the cabin to cover for her was draining her resources like no other jutsu she knew, but her time training with Naruto left her stronger, enough to believe she could do that and still carry out the search. Even if the almost continuous use of her Byakugan left her eyes sore, chakra burning up quickly and mind so preoccupied with scanning through hidden pockets filled with goods of varying legality that fainting after a mere praise earlier became only a niggling shame somewhere in the background.  
And in all fairness, thinking about the circumstances of that left her with the energy of spirit, if not body, to continue as her breathing grew more ragged with exhaustion, mouth dried up and she had to keep the piercing eyes continuously active lest she become unable to reactivate it.

Struggling to keep her dojutsu going she went crate by crate, trying to make sure she covered all the cargo. Oh, how easy it would have been if she could just make a single sweep and perfectly see them all, but this number of objects, this craftily hidden, she dared to doubt whether even her cousin or father would have been able to just do it that easily. Certainly Naruto's teammate didn't find any overt signs of the special chakra he could detect, nor the types of metal she was to look out for.

So she grit her teeth and worked on.  
A shipment of weaponry ranging from simple and functional to masterworks and oddly shaped, clearly strictly ceremonial blades. Old gold coins in jars. He liked her cooking!  
A padded container filled with alcohol, with some fruit still left inside for decoration... in which small samples of poison were hidden. Barrels of lantern oil. She wondered what it could be like if she could make something for him every day.  
Boxes of spice, every tenth one containing a smaller crate filled with gems. Maybe next time too she could volunteer and- nope, that would be pushy, wouldn't it?  
A collection of jewellery with just one small unadorned ring bearing an odd engraving that lit up as she looked at it, probably some code. Crates of marble and some of that strange wood father's desk was made from. But still he liked, no he said he loved her cooking! She could feel her face redden up again, and all alone she didn't mind it just this once.  
Ceramic vases and plates with what must have been a code hidden in the paintwork. She couldn't decide whether she was grateful or disappointed that Hokage-sama had not sent them after smuggling or to gather evidence on criminal groups and other villages spying. Finding something dirty or useful could probably be done at random, but with a proper search cataloguing it all would take decades.

She kept at it, cautiously peering through the decks, thankful for the time granted by the visiting samurai. Her team had run into a patrol group while on a mission before, so the much dimmer chakra systems (and, she noted happily, the chakra points she hadn't seen before) were no surprise. Trying to make as good a use as she could of the opportunity of the captain being above deck, she forced her eyes to work even harder, set aside everything from silly fantasy to speculation about where the illicit goods could go, and made every effort to detect what they were after.

Another row of crates, another minute scanning through an evasive barrel with suspicious contents. She could not let anything slip by her. She memorised the precise description of what type of items she was to look for, all nonspecific enough to keep her in the dark as much as possible, but giving enough to search on, so that later recognition could be made. Hopefully if she found something it would come with some hint of the origin, and then...

As she grunted and tried to look through a package of clay, it finally happened. She felt a snapping feeling in her eyes as the veins withdrew, a pang of pain in her eyes which then echoed all around her head and the world around her regained its colour, her field of vision narrowed back. She dropped to her knees and tried to breathe to ease off her dizziness. She could distantly feel the shadow clone undoing itself with her concentration dropping. That thankfully eased that burden on her, but also gave a time limit on how long she could have before returning to the cabin with no one noticing she was no longer around.

How long would it take for them to finish the checks, say their goodbyes and get on with the journey? Would the captain return right away? What if he just told Naruto and the others to finish off as soon as he was no longer needed? What would nthe next moment bring?  
Doubts and questions racing across her mind, trying her best to make her way in the darkness without dojutsu, relying on just the basic scouting techniques Sensei had taught her, she managed to find her way up to the correct hatch, and quiet as she could, climbed up into their cabin.

Dead tired, but cautious not to wake the snoring Kiba, she crawled into her bedroll, hoping to get at least a few hours of sleep before her next shift. The eyesore finally fading as she let sleep take hold of her, she felt a comfortable, restful darkness envelop her.

* * *

An alarm bell ringing.

Noise of metal on metal.

The sound of a heavy boot kicking down the door.

Shinobi are trained to recognise these sounds in the deepest, most exhausted slumber. They also meant a bit more to her than to other people.  
As reflexes, terror and the swaying of the ship launched her to consciousness, her aching eyes and drained body became secondary concerns.  
The one at the door was nothing like That Man, he wore not the armour and deadly poise of a professional but the shaggy clothes and swagger of a half-drunk bandit.

But for a shameful split second, that did not make any difference. Her training and all the progress paled in comparison to the blood in her veins turning to ice, her mind going blank, too filled with the onslaught of memories and what could now be to react, the paralysis of panic closing its grip on her like always.  
And yet again like always, light returned, in the shape of a golden haired boy dragging back the man, punching him and throwing him off board, breaking the spell of remembrance.  
He smiled at Hinata - and then a sword went through him, dispelling the clone.  
The fear that had gripped her turned to drive.

Clarity has many forms. Inner peace with the world and the self can bring it, sheer effort can get you there, but in that second Hinata experienced a new way. Maybe she didn't have her cousin's talent, but that sight, however fleeting or false brought her a new clarity: a wrong that had to be put right. In that moment of unique anger only the truly peaceful and gentle ever experience, steps she struggled with, lessons she did not get, ideas beyond her ability all clicked, for however short a while.

After she was done with that... bastard, Hinata made her way out of the cabin, eyes and hands flowing with as much chakra as she dared risk. The fear was not gone, but she'd be damned if that would stop her from joining the fray.

Guided by Byakugan, she ducked under an attacker's spear and responded with a Gentle Fist sequence that disposed of her opposition and would have made her father smile. Her eyes scanned the battlefield and it was her who would rush to others' rescue.

Kiba was the closest, right up on the roof of the main cabin, back to back with Shino and holding their own against a group of bandits. There was a scream of an unfortunate soul being enveloped by a swarm, but even her quiet friend's stoic nature couldn't hide that the fighting was taking a lot out of him. Likewise Kiba had a few bruises and cuts, his form with Akamaru slowing even as Hinata approached, one arm busy keeping a cracked rib shielded.  
A quiet, quick approach from the right angle let the Gentle Fist take care of one attacker, and as she rolled to the middle of the fight, a draining, but effective show of the steps of the Sixty-Four Palms, all the way up to Sixteen applied to the group of enemies made dent enough in their numbers and gave distraction enough for her friends to exploit, that a few seconds later they could spare breath to actually talk.

"Hinata! Good of you to finally..." Kiba deflected a badly maintained katana with his kunai "get up and join. The hell have you been..." he punched the katana's owner in the gut and let Aamaru bite him in the nose "...doing? You haven't slept this much even after the worst over-training I've seen you do!"

"Indeed." Shino extended another hand and the swam tormenting his current victim split in two, latching onto two more bandits. "Perhaps a word with the chuunin might be in order. Why? Because the upkeep of our fellows takes precedence in any situation. Faith in one's allies is commendable but whatever might it that we are ignorant of, what he has you do is most clearly taxing."

"Thank you for worrying about me. It means a lot." She caught an advancing bandit trying to blind-side Shino in a short-lived melee. "But it was for a good reason, I promise. What happened? Where are we?"

There was only so much her eyes could tell her of the situation, after all. Quite a lot has changed while she was asleep. The mountains that loomed on the distance have now crept up on them, the hills grew into plateaus and the river's course was deeper, approaching a canyon. Not far off she could see a ship's wreck, plundered for everything, likely including its wood to build the camp site and palisade along the river's shore, from where even now bandits were throwing lassos and nets at the ship to climb over on.  
Most were intercepted and the ropes shredded by shuriken, but there were plenty making their way on board, then caught up in a fight with clones in orange.

"Right on the border between Grass and Waterfall territory. It was that damn fog... and maybe my nose hasn't healed up all that well yet." Kiba confessed. "We didn't spot their camp in time, and we couldn't turn the ship around." He dodged a punch and tumbled an attacker to the ground, letting Shino take over the explanation.

"Naruto and the Captain have decided that the best solution is to proceed right ahead, as the enemy would not be expecting shinobi, merely ordinary guards at most. The strategy has been successful, we disabled their initial tactic of throwing nets and stopping the ship, however..." Shino withdrew part of the swarm and knocked out his other victim who stubbornly tried to get up again "...as you can see there is currently an attempt to board and overwhelm us. We were attempting to come and wake you when we found ourselves surrounded."

"Oi! Not surrounded, just, eh, tactically challenged!" Kiba butted back into the conversation. "Anyway, you're all up and going now, so Team Eight can get things started! Time to earn ourselves some fame, guys!" He finished with a ferocious grin, Akamaru barked eagerly, and Shino made his glasses shine in that particular way only an Aburame could.

Hinata smiled at that. She wouldn't have traded away the past month for anything, but she did spend less time than before with her original team, and she did like the idea of again fighting as a unit - however the insight of the battlefield presented far more pressing needs.

"I'd like that, everyone, but we can't. I see Sakura-san is in trouble, so someone should go help her, but also..."

"...also that idiot we have for a leader got himself in a tight spot too, and you want to help him, right?" Kiba asked with a coy smile. Hinata didn't even bother to dispute the claim. "Well, if Shino's down with that..."

"Affirmative."

"...then I guess the best teamwork is to split up for now." Seeing Hinata nod eagerly and hop off towards the deck, he couldn't help but grin. "I swear those two are really alike sometimes. Oh well. Ready or not, bandit scum" he declared to the gang below "it's ass-kickin' time! Yahoo!"

* * *

"Wind Release: Vortex Cannon!"

He still had to concentrate and fix his legs to the deck with chakra so that the ring of wind blasting off wouldn't throw him back, but still, Naruto was pleased with the technique. More and more he could perform it by gut-feeling - so now, even if it took some effort and precision, he managed to create a wide, blunt quality to it that smashed the last drop-bridge to bits, but only knocked away the people on it. As well as knocking off the people standing on the nearby sections of the wall. Still a bit too much chakra, perhaps?  
He wondered if he would have been scolded by his lack of precision or praised for making a single technique work on multiple opponents.

"Hey, Sasuke!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, towards the Uchiha fighting somewhere near the aft of the ship. "Any progress on that 'setting the wooden wall on fire' thing yet?" Normally he'd have been all too happy to be smug at the hailed genius dropping his habit of immediate success, but right now clones or no, they really could have used the distraction.

Okay, perhaps when he mentioned the idea, Naruto happened to ignore the immediate lecture from Sakura-chan regarding setting on fire a thick wooden wall standing right in a river, likely sucking up water for a long time. But for once it would have been nice to actually make use of that uppity bastard's eliti- and indeed there it was, some new flame jutsu doubtless picked up from an Uchiha scroll or just an old technique used in a new way, flaring up and swirling at the wall, igniting it.  
Being chuunin had its messy and dull bits, but as Naruto was discovering, he loved it when things went just right.  
He set aside the wonder whether Shikamaru felt like that all the time, and got on with the fighting.

Memory fragments floating to him from the clones made for an odd and distorted picture of the battlefield. He worried for a second for Hinata, with the sudden end of one clone, only to not much later get new memories and feel the mix of pride and shame at a clone much too easily taken down by a civilian, as well as what distracted the clone: an image of a hell of a beautiful beatdown by the girl.

But if a clone could be distracted so could he himself, and this was no joking situation. Perhaps the man sought him out or the fighting naturally guided them to one another, but it took but a few exchange of blows for Naruto to realise he'd caught himself the leader of the invaders.  
It was oddly like the spars he'd had with Kakashi-sensei over the last month: he could feel his opponent was holding back, trying to figure him out, but years of experience made even the most cautious move one of skill and grace. Again and again he had to dodge, rather than even try deflecting his heavy cleavers, handled with ease that would have impressed Zabuza.

His opponent did not have the ferocity of Sasuke, the smarts of Shikamaru, the sheer power of Gaara or the trained and nimble fighting ability of any shibobi Naruto had ever fought, but he more than made up for it. It did not take much to realise he was a trained man – a simple chop this way, followed by a kick that way would have directed Naruto right into a lethal following strike had he not just spent a month with Kakashi-sensei trying to improve his footwork and flexibility to recognise the signs and get out in time.  
Perhaps the samurai from the other day were worried for more reasons than they were letting on.

The man he was fighting was short, but stocky and wore old style, but clearly powerful armour. Not a complete fit, but close enough. How would one make sure? Naruto had an idea, if a risky one.

Blow after blow he let the man get closer, dancing around his clones and the leader's men fighting on the deck, trying to keep an eye on his team.  
An almost-too-late duck followed a nearly-there pirouette, his kunai proved worthless against the armour, and he let his foot slip at _just_ the right time for a small victorious grunt to be heard.

Position oneself just right, and slipping one hand behind one's back can seem like trying to get up, too late for the twin cleavers already bearing down on him.  
Fortunately evasion was not his plan. The cleavers and his tanto met, ringing out.  
Stuck on one knee, with the weight of the armoured enemy bearing down on him might not have been the best of situations, but it did serve a purpose. It broke the silence of his foe.

"Not bad a try, child." A deep voice rumbled. "But whatever your age, a shinobi hireling is no match for me.

"Funny." Naruto groaned with exertion against the enemy's blade. "I was gonna say something like that about a bandit."

Orange energy flashed around Naruto's hands, then channeled itself into the tanto, enhancing and completing the blade with a shimmering white, fang-like visage. Whereas the metal was halted on the enemy steel, this now bit easily into it - that is to say until the other two blades, with an annoyed nooise emanating from the armoured figure, flowed with chakra on their own.

"But that'd be wrong, wouldn't it? A ronin is supposed to be something a bit more still, y'know." Chakras and blades clashing, Naruto flashed a grin at his enemy.

The weight and pressure increased, the chakra in the blades flared up with anger as the short man's face twisted with anger.  
"The gall! I am NOT a ronin! I have a call and a master, I command this rabble like an army, I am not a glorified mercenary like you kids!" Yellowish green eyes took a hard look at Naruto. "And I don't need tricks to have my art! Our blades match for now, but look at the position of your wrist! Pathetic!"

"Yeah, well I'm kinda new at this stuff. But we aren't matched, because unlike your 'rabble' I have people to rely on!" Naruto's focus shifted to something behind the ex-samurai. "NOW, HINATA!"

A small, white projectile hit the rouge. It's impact would normally have been minimal, but it did not aim for the regular targets. The initial flight's impact (achieved with a boost from a clone) was enough for a moment's distraction, which gave her time to use her Gentle Fist, concentrate and bypass the man's armour completely, sealing a key chakra point cluster.

Samurai techniques may not be exactly the same as shinobi ones, but chakra is chakra, and a loss of control means a collapsing technique.  
The twin cleavers, without the energy flowing through them, snapped like twigs against Naruto's wind-enhanced tanto, and it was only a matter of sheer luck that the further advance of the blade did not chop off a hand before the ronin shook off the girl and jumped backwards.

For a moment, none of the three moved and the battle raged around them.  
Then the ronin threw back his head and laughed.  
"I suppose I should thank you, children, for undoing the last of my bonds to my former lord. I received those blades as a personal gift, and you have shown me there are plenty of things my old tools are useless against. But there are other ways. RETREAT!"  
He bellowed the last word to his men, then jumped again, all the way back to a section of the wall not on fire.

For a short moment, after the bandits withdrew, there was silence as the Barge sailed alongside the burning wall, her crew assembling on the deck, watched by glowering bandits.

"So, ya finally fought them off?" He captain leaned on his oversized wrench he's been using to clobber any enemies who climbed up to the control cabin with. "Remind me to kick your ass sometime. You are supposed to keep these bastards _off_ the ship." He said nonchalantly, cleaning his ear out with his pinkie.

"Well, remind _me_ to kick your ass for not warning us about this section of the river or that you can't turn the damn ship around, Captain Whatsyourname!" Naruto grumbled back. "But you should get back to that cabin of yours, 'cause I'm not liking these guys are looking at us. I think-"

"Archers!" Hinata warned.

"Those arrows are on fire!" Kiba added.

"I believe it is furthermore worthy to note that on a choke point on the river ahead, our enemies have raised up a grid gate. Why? To stop the ship." Shino's monotone was all they needed to take the warning seriously. Despite its format.

"Well, shinobi?" The yell came from the wall. "You can burn and sink with the ship, or abandon it either to us or the water. Just as a small thank you for what you did to half our wall."

"Ain't happening, you bastard!" Naruto shouted back, then turned to his team. "Uh, guys? I think we may need to get real good with shuriken very very fast, if we are to catch every single arrow mid-flight." He laughed awkwardly.

"Nonsense." The captain joined back in. "You only need to be good enough to keep them off the deck, me and the _Barge_ can handle the rest. The old girl has tricks up her sleeve."

"If ya say so. Quick, everyone form a line, get ready to cancel out their arrows!" Naruto instructed, somewhat unsure what the client was up to.

"Aim!" The ronin shouted.

"Oh no ya don't, you nasty bastards!" The captain opened a bottle and drank some of its contents. "Let's see how ya like THIS!"

He closed his eyes, and with the air of someone having one this too many times before, he summoned the strength he needed. Greasy clothes and nasty beard billowing with energy, voice hoarse with exertion, he called out.  
"Ninja Art: Steam Armour!"

The chakra left him in droves and washed all over his rust bucket of a ship. Bright red iron plates popped into existence over the old, dirty and long-neglected wooden hull, she ship plopped deeper into the water. The pipes that had thus far emitted a slow, steady exhaust steam now pumped the hot gasses out like there was no tomorrow, joined by the myriad appearing openings in the armour on the ship as well.

The move was worth it: the impacting arrows bounced off harmlessly from the hull instead of setting it aflame, leaving only Naruto, his genin and the small army of clones to picket off those which would have reached the deck.

Perhaps most strangely the ship did not slow down. Her owner, huffing with fatigue, and shrugging off the amazed looks his guards shot at him, downed some more of the liquid in the bottle, and flared up again with energy.  
The new openings seemed to stream out steam too at first, but it grew hotter and hotter, propelling the ship forward like a propulsion even more off-kilter than the Kettle and its paddle oars.

Before they knew it, the ship cleared the remainder of the walled off section, basting ahead at full speed and coming up on the gate.  
"Hold onto yer hats, kids!" The Captain yelled with positive glee. "I've never tried having her smash through anything before!"

* * *

After a deafening crash and a sad view of what was left of their gate, the bandits took a long, hard look at their escaping plunder, camp and wall on fire, useless weaponry, then finally their commander.  
Few words were needed to be spoken aloud.

"What are you waiting for, maggots? Send a bird ahead to the other outposts, warn them. Whatever is on that boat, if it warrants protection like that, it is worth going after. And put that fire out already!"

"Sir, yes sir!" It took a lot to get a bunch of bandits to start behaving like proper, trained men, but when it worked, it was almost worth it.

"Salvage what you can and march ahead. Perhaps it's luck, or we were too early to place a post here, but we will need your forces further ahead in any case." Simple, direct orders, to best avoid confusing the men.

"Uh, Osamu-sama? The Boss will need to learn about this whole thing, right? Thing is, it wasn't really our fault, right? The nets didn't work." Then again, old habits still re-surfaced occasionally, and this particular specimen of banditry was perhaps good illustration as to why some people didn't have as much of a choice in the matter of becoming vagrants who took from people as others.

"No, I shall tend to that myself. I shall be returning to the main base anyway, for I believe it is time we made use of some of our better tools." That seemed to brighten up the mood of the lackeys. "After I've had a word or two with the regimen, of course. Your performance today has been quite unacceptable."

"Uh, yes, sir."

Something in the air seemed to suggest 'push-ups' and yelling. A lot of it, in fact.  
If they were lucky.

* * *

The crazed blast ahead, with the ship practically skipping on the surface of the water, did not last long but it has taken them far. When the _Barge_ finally slowed down, the ambush site and its dangers were far behind them.

"Hahaha! I'd have loved to see their expressions when we pulled that! I'll show 'em a what for, even thinking of hurting her. This damned ship is my livelihood." The captain wheezed slightly after undoing whatever it was that he did. "Though I guess I can settle for seeing your dumb faces, kids. Did ya think you needed one of those silly forehead protectors to have learned a couple of tricks? And no, Blondie, I don't owe ya explanations. I paid your fees, you protect me. Anything beyond that is a luxury. Speaking of which, do we still have any of that fish soup left over from the other day? I am _famished_."

With that, the master of the vessel left the shinobi to their deliberations, disappearing below decks.

* * *

Funny that after a burst of excitement, how quickly things return to normalcy.  
There could be another attack waiting beyond the next bend of the river or the next hill, and as they got nearer and nearer to the real canyon ahead, things would only grow more tense. But for now there were small injuries to tend to, battle damage to assess, supplies to count and so on.  
And someone had to take care of the watch again.

Perhaps she should have spoken up, Hinata considered, that she barely recovered, and needed rest. It was her duty, even, beyond basic trust in Naruto. But who else was there to do it? Kiba said his nose hasn't yet healed, Shino was exhausted after the battle, and there was... another thing to think through, come up with a way for.  
So what she was doing by volunteering for the first watch after the battle, it was rather selfish of her, wasn't it?

But she welcomed the opportunity to clear her head, even if the chakra she'd used up with the way she felt then was now bound to cause, well, difficulties.  
Having slept over the last two meals and finding the captain having taken all the stored food didn't help much either.  
Yet her doing this meant someone else didn't have to, and hopefully, maybe it helped out Naruto-kun, right?  
All she knew right now, sitting atop the control cabin was that her jacket was becoming a greater and greater value as they made their way North and up the mountains.

Enjoying the last bits of sunlight, she looked around without her Byakugan. You never really appreciated colours until you've spent hours staring at a world without them, and the sunset did a beautiful job of painting the landscape around the ship a bright, wonderful orange. If nothing else, that and the air did her good as she settled into keeping the watch again.  
She focused on conserving her energy as best as she could. From the vantage point of the roof she did not yet have to re-engage her eyes, but she knew very well that soon she'd have to resort to it. There was nothing more to it but simply toughing it out. It's hardly as if people did not put up with worse conditions, she chided herself.

"Hinata! There you are!" Naruto's voice, suddenly nearby, reminded her that one of the downsides of not relying on the Byakugan was that if someone approached from the right angle, they could give you a hell of a scare. "I meant to find you earlier, but had to get things going."

Trying to control her expressions of surprise and the embarrassment at the sudden proximity, she did her best to squeak out a response.  
"N-Naruto-kun!" Damn it! Even the stutter was back. And she was doing so well during the battle! Over the last month she's been making good progress in dropping the habit, but right now it was coming back with a vengeance.

Her attempt to regain mastery of her vocal chords also gave him time enough to sit down by her, evidently unaware of the situation. There he was, sitting right next to her, while the two of them were facing the sunset, which Hinata needed less and less to paint her red. Her battle for control over her voice has grown more desperate too, but a turn of misfortune happened to save her – by having her stomach growl with hunger, probably ruining all potential for the situation.

"Aha! I knew I was thinking right!" Naruto seemed to brighten up at the noise, and pulled out a storage scroll from a holster. A couple of hand signs and two hearty slams on seals later he was holding one plastic cup and offering another to Hinata. "Here, this should help a bit. Cup ramen, brought along especially for emergencies. Just run some chakra through the cup and- oh!" He cut himself off, took the cup back from Hinata before she had time to even blink, concentrated for a second and handed her back the now steaming container.

The shyness of her mind was overcome by the practical needs of her body for sustenance, and she grabbed onto the ready-meal and eagerly dug into it with the cheap chopsticks. The clan's cooks had scoffed at the idea of simple food like it, and the first time she's ever had any was at the beginning of the mission, but she was finding an embarrassingly great appetite for it.

Of course thinking of her clan only reminded her that she was being impolite. She gulped and added after the fact, with some embarrassment:  
"Thank you for the meal." Her mutter was met with a grin from him. "And thank you too, Naruto-kun."

"Heh, think nothing of it!" He looked up from his own cup, and shot a sly smile at her. "I did wonder who else liked ramen that much, y'know."

Oh, right. The team breakfast at the stand. She was probably not meant to eat that much, especially with someone else paying the bill. Other aspects of the situation had tied up Hinata's attention at the time, and well, she really did enjoy the meal a great deal.  
Seeing her face, Naruto laughed and patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"Hey, don't feel bad about that. I owe you more for helping me train anyway. And well, you being out of it is my fault to begin with." He added, smile turning apologetic. "I kinda messed up, y'know. I was happy that I could do the whole planning thing Sensei taught me, but it's still new to me. Sakura-chan was right for yelling at me for tiring you out after you slept all day."

"Oh. That was thoughtful of her... but I disagree. We are shinobi on a mission, and if I need to, even I can... !" Embarrassment had once again gotten the better of her.

"I know you can. After the things I've seen you do and some of the stuff Kiba and Shino mentioned, I know you're stronger than to worry about minor stuff like this." She's gone even redder. "But it's my job as captain to make things work, and I screwed up there if I let you or anyone else exhaust themselves. Now I know why Kakashi-sensei was always after me to try and get me to eat more veggies and healthy stuff."

He laughed, she smiled, and they both took another sip of their ready ramen.

"Anyway, I sorted things out now. Well, I actually explained to Sakura-chan how I wanted things to go, then she helped me make one big list of the whole thing." He lowered his voice. "Without any of the other stuff for the mission, but I did it so it should be better now. Also Sasuke said he'll sneak into the captain's quarters, try to have a look in his logs, ledgers and that sorta stuff . Says his Sharingan should allow him to spot patterns or something, so that can be a clue. I don't like relying on him, but it could narrow it down, y'know?"

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She looked around, turning her head left and right to make sure no one was around, then she too lowered her voice. "I'm sorry I still haven't found what we're after."

"Hey, don't worry. There might not be anything after a- hey!" He looked up and pointed at her. "Something is wrong!"

"W-what?" Hinata was confused, overwhelming even the awkwardness that Naruto's face was inches away from her, looking at her with a serious, suspecting face. "Did I eat the ramen improperly? If so, I apologise, but I didn't..." Her voice trailed off with embarrassment, and she turned away.

"Aha! That's it! You moved your head!" Naruto's declaration was loud and clear, but did little to help the girl understand him. "Usually when you look around, you use the Byakugan and turn away only to hide those vein things around your eyes! I dunno why you do it but you always do that! But now you didn't, so something's wrong, right?"

He looked so pleased with his deduction that Hinata's first reaction, storming off with embarrassment, shut down without her needing to resist it. She hadn't realised it, but now she thought about it she did have a habit of turning away from him whenever she had to use her kekkei genkai. To be self-conscious about her heritage was yet another failure and shame on her part she didn't even realise she was committing.

"I, um, I am sorry if it was strange." Her voice, still small with embarrassment, finally came back. After some hesitation she added. "I didn't know I was hiding it. It's not... ugly, is it?"

"Nah, it's really cool! Back when we sparred at the field, and then against that ronin guy when you activated it, it really changed how you normally look!" Before Hinata could react, Naruto continued. "But it's not bad or anything! It's sort of a battle mode, right? Like, normally you're really small and cute and always look down, but when you get serious and activate the Byakugan you look up, straighten out your back, really stand up and look really serious! Like when you fought Neji! It's really cool, like I said!"

Well, that did it, Hinata thought. The food made her feel a whole lot better, but she was clearly not quite ready to actually take watch if she was hearing things. Before she could accept the shame of asking Naruto to let her go back to rest, he continued on.

"But anyway, I was right! Something's going on." He gulped down the remainder of the ramen and looked at her. The way he tried to inquisitively raise an eyebrow, a tragically failed attempt, reminded Hinata of Kurenai-sensei, and chased away her bad thoughts. "With your Byakugan, isn't it? Is your chakra too drained to use it?"

Hinata nodded, and Naruto frowned.

"Come on, Hinata, you need to tell me these things! I'm responsible for everyone now, y'know. And if you got trouble with your Byakugan, I suppose I gotta..." He stood up from her side, and Hinata practically felt her shame swallow her.

"...make up for the difference!" He sat down again, now his back against hers. "Maybe I can't see through stuff, but this way we can see all around, right?"  
He grinned to himself, not quite sure when it got to be so that he could tell when Hinata would smile in that odd way of hers without looking at her. "I mean if you don't mind and all."

"Not at all!" Hinata was overcome with relief that he didn't just leave her here. She took a deep breath and concentrated, making sure her next question came out right. "And... Naruto-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Would you mind keeping me company? Even, um, after I get better?"

"I'd love to, Hinata!" The answer came almost instantly and Hinata felt a happy shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.

* * *

Naruto wasn't quite sure what was going on.

There were a few occasions, especially with Iruka-sensei and Ero-sennin, where it was fun to just sit and talk with them and everything would be all right in the world. But this was different, somehow. He didn't have the words or experience to really think about how, and it was driving him mad.

They barely even talked, and he was finding himself okay with that! He mentioned a few things he'd done with Ero-sennin, described a few of his pranks, and the way she listened and especially the real, loud laugh he's never before heard from her made that feeling even bigger.

Her story of the first missions of Team Eight captivated him, and the way she hesitantly mentioned the ways in which she'd messed up had him recall all the ways he too had failed. Then came happier stories. Fond recollections of a younger sister, few, rare times her father had approved of the progress she made and taught her steps and moves, details of a tightly knit family life that had Naruto envious as well as sad, knowing even just a little bit of what it all came with.

He told what little he could in return. Old Man Hokage rarely made the political move to interfere with the most powerful clan of the village, so to Hinata, besides a few appearances in the Academy the man remained a distant authority figure. Telling of the times he had helped him while he was little, mentioning everything about the closest thing he had to a grandfather he could recall, from the ever-present smell of tobacco to Naruto's triumph over him using the Sexy Jutsu, he realised, was something he really needed to get off his chest ever since seeing his old stuff removed and hints of his touch on the village fade with every day.

And the way she listened, actually listened to him talk, then respond with earnest thoughts expressed quietly but with conviction, it was something else entirely.

He ended up staying her whole shift. They wandered from topic to topic, and as curiously Shino seemed to prefer sitting somewhere else and take over the actual watch, they still kept on just sitting on the roof, the discussion slowing down with neither of them minding it.  
Naruto found some weird thoughts conjured up in his mind, like wishing it wasn't cloudy and misty, but a crisp and clear night so the stars would be visible. Sure, it would make things a bit lighter, but why did he find that it suddenly mattered? As usual, the whole thing was just too confusing for him.

Still, perhaps it was okay not to think too hard about these things?  
It was fun, the way this was, and her company has brought him an odd sense of peace that he dared not disturb.

 **OMAKE**

 _A few hours earlier_

Sasuke made his way through the insides of the ship. He made sure to avoid the vessel's master, muttering to himself as he went back and forth from what Naruto described to him as the kettle and a large crate in the hold, filled with tubes, wrenches and tools of all kinds.  
Fortunately the packed cargo bay meant there was no clear line of sight from the man's work to the entrance to his cabin, and among the skills the Academy taught was the art of lockpicking. As he made his way to the door, Sasuke found himself eager to try his hand at an area of expertise he never really had to rely on before. Unfortunately the door was left swinging, wide open.

The room was, well, in disarray. Pieces of clothing were all over the place, empty glasses and crumpled papers lay on the floor, and the less said about the bed the better. The one spot of relative order in the room was a desk with a map of the riverways of the continent on it beside a carefully laid out set of routes, pens, brushes, pencils and all the needed tools for routing. A small stack of paper on the side covered mathematical formulae, calculations, cross-sections of the ship and made up plans of a number of devices and ideas, wandering questions as to whether the steam system could be translated to ground-based vehicles, all crossed out.

Sasuke dug through the paperwork, careful as to not leave any signs of his search. Finally he had a number of ledgers, business proposals and contacts. For his mess and rudeness, the captain's book-keeping was surprisingly tidy.  
It was time to get to work.

Sasuke made sure he would not be disrupted for a while, laid out the documents, and activated his Sharingan. Taijutsu, genjutsu or ninjutsu, decoding or anything else that had an element of pattern recognition, his eyes could recognise and let him master it.

The eyes of legend have given his clan a reputation far and wide. For all the things some of the clan members may have done to further fame or infamy, no one individual had ever attained as great a name as the eyes themselves. Face off against a master of the sword, and soon you find yourself adapting styles that meet your foe's. Anyone wielding the same elemental natures as you would find themselves only adding to your repertoire. And nothing rivalled the illusions created by the Sharingan. From his fight against the Hyuuga genius to copying Lee's movements or any other techniques, right down to the most banal uses he may have had for it, life taught Uchiha Sasuke that there was nothing in the world that his eyes could not help him through.

And there he was now, setting his eyes on several years' worth of accounts, bills, contracts.  
Against all reason, as usual, his eyes made perfect sense of it all and decoded everything for him.  
His mind, on the other hand may have been bright, but it was still a normal one, and it was quick to discover that burning into your brain a decade's worth of business dealings was less than pleasant.  
As a grey, incredibly dull and dry mass of prices, costs, incomes and expenses, taxes and profits had their way with his head, Sasuke held onto his pride and managed not to scream.


	13. Caught Unawares (p1)

**Chapter 12 – Caught Unawares (p1)**

The bird of prey navigated the torrents of the canyon's winds with expert grace, keen eye on a constant lookout for prey and threats alike.

Recent times have been lean. Hunger was ever on what little a mind the creature had, but of late that limited space was filled with more and more desperation. There used to be plenty of small animals and fish to snatch, and the passing of the featherless giants usually left behind a veritable feast.  
That changed, and venturing even this close was a danger in and of itself.

These new ones were different. More of them had hard, shiny skin, threw rocks at the majestic, true masters of the cliffs. They did less hunting and fishing, so they left behind much fewer remains, but they watched the river and forests with a hunger similar to the avians, depriving them of their hunt.

The giants had always burrowed, their stone nest a known presence for untold generations, but after all the noise and the banging, the fires and the fight it became all different. Far less people on the odd, orderly rows of plants they used to favour, more in their flocks and pouncing on their own kind.  
The bird did not comprehend much of this, merely the hunger, the danger, and the desperation pushing it to daring.

The hunter flew, water rushing below it, when it spotted the signs. Flashes, quick movements, signs of the giants battling again, on those branch-stuff floating nests going up and down the river. Instinct told the creature to wait it out, circle patiently. But hunger sharpened even the best eyes, and it spotted the key detail: fish! Laid out, forgotten in the scuffle!

A lifetime of experience drew the bird's plummet, at just the right angle, just the right speed, faster, _faster, talons rea_ -

It was then that a stray kunai caught the poor thing in a puff of feathers and a surprised squawk.

The thing about natural selection, however cruel, was that if you approached a battle of shinobi carelessly, it inevitably happened to you.

* * *

Catch the enemy blade just the right way. Unlike a kunai, the tanto has a guard, so don't spare it!  
Metal slides on metal, the sensation of a quick halt numbs the fingers.

Practice makes perfect, they say. It certainly burns responses into the muscle memory, if done right. Naruto's technique was far from perfect, as such things don't come quickly, but as with hand to hand fighting, the bad habits were slowly weeded out. Actual life and death use of the new weapon was a better teacher than anything from the Academy, or even Kakashi-sensei himself. Just like before with Hinata, lessons learned but never truly felt clicked into place as fuzzy theory was replaced by rock solid experience.

It was important not to yield to the temptations to flourish or make big plays with the blade while you had no true mastery, so keep it simple, keep it smart. Bladed weapons have a noble air around them, but don't let that get to your head. You are not a swordsman, but a shinobi, no matter the weapon at hand.  
The bandit shifted stance for a big struggle of blades, thus making ample room for an effective knee to the stomach. A balance thus disturbed was distraction enough to get some chakra in one's arms, smack the dull edge of the enemy's sword into his face, and deliver a kick that sent him tumbling off deck.

Naruto knew he'd have to come up with some stellar way of thanking Kakashi-sensei all the instructions, but still he felt like he was missing something. Fighting Sensei's way was effective and quick, but even as the mission pushed him to the bare necessities of fighting, on some level he still longed to make it all be a bit more than that. This was the cool and effective stuff he'd dreamt of learning, yet now it just didn't seem to sit right with him.

He wished he had the luxury of switching it up a bit, but there seemed to be less and less room for that sort of thing. Already he was losing count of the bandits he personally fought to chase off, and that was without the clones. Besides the occasional better trained opponent, most bandits were simply tough and by the looks of it a bit crazy, relatively easily to fend off, but they added up - if most people felt that way about having to fight his clones, he could understand why they tended to get annoyed with him.

As he trained he'd gained a sense of what he lacked before, how far he's come and what laid yet ahead, but it was now that he was truly feeling it.  
Missions were more than the brief battles everyone ended up hearing about, and if you were in charge of them especially, they taxed you well beyond the physical as well. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if not for the extensive training - and whereas gaining power and knowledge has made him happy and proud before, the extent to which he now had to rely on his new skills just to keep it all together, well, it was getting a bit intimidating.

The familiar sound of a horn signalling retreat, he'd have to admit, was a relief to him...

"Watch out! Archers on the cliffs!" The otherwise gentle and soft female voice sounding the warning was hoarse with fatigue and the tension, the very same sort burdening him.

...and now that he listened, the horn did sound different, sounding retreat for one, but with a new flourish, similar to the previous advance.

He didn't have to puzzle out its meaning: figures appeared from the outcroppings, cave exits and crannies of the stone walls surrounding them, and began raining arrows down.

"Drat!" Naruto grunted. Even his reserves were getting pushed, so he could hardly begin to imagine how everyone else was still standing upright. "Get to cover!" His orders ended in an undignified leap away from the exposed position and an arrow coming dangerously close. He had to catch his breath again, try to keep his head down and make sure everyone else was safe as well.

His own voice too was something he barely recognised, desperate, tired. The mission had given him odd, comforting little moments he wouldn't trade away for the world, yet he had just about enough of the dangers all around, the worries, the damn canyon.

He didn't even need to be in an ambush to feel the stone walls close in on him, constantly get chills as if he was surrounded and watched.

Familiar hand signs, a new effort to spend his reserves just right, and a dozen copies of himself popped into existence. They took expert, if likewise careful positions and matched arrows with upward shuriken, buying the team and him a moment to think.

This was no more a C-ranker than he was a bookworm, that one was for sure.  
The third attack in a week, not counting the initial breakthrough and the patrols they did avoid? The other merchant ship they've seen attacked, guards disabled and vessel looted before they could so much as get there to help?  
Someone had big plans for this glorified bunch of rocks, enough that they amassed resources enough that none of their neighbours have taken them down yet, in a time short enough for the Leaf not to notice either.

Oh, how easy it would be to quit the mission now, keeping his people safe - technically. He'd gladly take on Granny yelling his head off in case he was wrong.  
But here and now in this watery maze the _Barge_ was the sole known, safe point, almost a floating base. Braving a way back home without a guide, however shady, was likewise a worse option than bracing the riskier and riskier waters, desperately searching for a way around.

So for now, they were stuck with the mission. They were on unknown terrain, had a dangerous ex-samurai leading a band of outlaws for an enemy, who had the gall to never even show his face after their fight, preferring to harass them with troops, deny them rest and the direct routes, no doubt planning some big impressive ambush to finish them off.

Conditions like this, having to crack the enemy's plan, not his head, was probably just the type of stuff that would make Shikamaru drool.  
Without him around, Naruto was left with a handful of lessons at planning, what little experience he had, and an ever-growing headache from trying to think his way out of the situation. How...

"...troublesome." Naruto groaned. "Oh, for crying out loud, I even started talking like that guy!"  
He knew he wasn't as stupid as everyone told him, even figured out most of the direct problems, but a real counter-strategy? Not his speciality, to say the least.

How was he supposed to get the mission done, when it was something you'd need a Jounin for, while also keeping his people safe?  
Why didn't they cover situations like this with Sensei more?  
Was he really cut out to be a chuunin, if the answers weren't evident?

He barely had time to begin process the question when that familiar voice sounded again, barely understandable, yelling out directions they were being attacked from.  
It wasn't even directed at him, but hearing it had the oddest of effects on him, something he couldn't really name. Hope, worry, encouragement and a sense of direction and dedication flooded his mind.

The sudden sensation was like being brought up from underwater. What the hell was he doing? He'd sworn never to be afraid again! The battle still raged on, and he just sat there thinking and feeling sorry for himself? Some defence of his people that was!

He shook his head, got himself a clearer picture of the fight.

Sasuke was showing off as usual; a familiar, copied move with launching shuriken directly from the scroll matching many an arrow.  
Kiba tried keeping up the old fashioned way next to Shino who, probably out of range for his insects, contended himself with supplying his friend with armaments to throw.  
And for once none of these nor Naruto himself were the most notable presences on the battlefield.

"COME ON, YOU BASTARDS! HA! YOU COULDN'T HIT THE MONUMENTS WITH AIM LIKE THAT, BLIND SONS OF-"  
Sakura seemed to enjoy letting her hair and usual mannerisms down. While she was at it, she also let off a hell of a lot of projectiles with gusto, zeal, and Hinata acting as her spotter.

Watching all that, Naruto felt the grin find its way back to his face. He's yelled at so many people not to underestimate him, he had no right to do the same of those he was to protect. Yeah, so maybe he wouldn't always get to have fun storming someone else's defences, sometimes he'd be the one having to worry. He was already getting some ideas about that. But more importantly, he was wrong to let it get to him, deprive him of fun, of cheer and spirit. He was to lead, not orde people around, nowhere as well as the smartass type.

This mission was much too dangerous for them, and they were stuck with it for now.  
But that did not mean he couldn't enjoy himself, couldn't try and spark it up in the team too.

Getting out of cover, charging right to the top of the control cabin while yelling encouragements at the top of his lungs, all the while hurling weaponry at the archers; it all was certainly a dumb, if bold move.  
Sending wind blasts at the weaker-looking sections of the cliffs was dangerous if the small shower of pebbles was indication, but it did a hell of a job at scaring the enemy.  
Finally, smacking his bottom in a silly attempt to mock and goad the archers was downright childish.

But damn, did he need to do something stupid for his health!  
He was cooped up, not just on the ship in perpetual defence but in a mental rut, and he knew only one way of alleviating that. Fun! He was being ridiculous and he knew it, but unlike his pranks back home that mostly just annoyed people, here they seemed to bring a breath of fresh air to the defending crew.

Kiba shook his head, but even as he did so desperation was replaced with the fires of competitiveness against Naruto and Sasuke. The Uchiha merely rolled his eyes but seemed more energetic, and even though probably embarrassed at some of his antics, Hinata gave him a proud look that made him feel like it was all worth it.

For the first time since they entered the canyons, Naruto was feeling like he knew what he was doing, even if that was going against all reason. He was used to that, at least.

That little bit of spirit and the small comfort under attack was more than anyone inexperienced would give it credit. It was enough that the mind wandered to the endless drilling by Kakashi-sensei, and before Naruto knew it, he was yelling out actual orders, without feeling like an out of place bore.

"Good! Cover each other's angles, I want that cliff to look like a pincushion! We're not fighting one on one but as a shooting match, so act like it!" He roared at the team, the advice and ideas finally coming to him, his teacher's tireless seeding finally beginning to sprout.

One needed only to consider Team Seven to realise shinobi tended to fight individually, they were not soldiery. But against an organised unit in a fight like this, they needed someone with the guts and the lungs to yell at them, herd all those cats right at the enemy.  
Perhaps it sounded silly, but it made a world of difference.

"Kiba, aim higher, this isn't the range! You can do more than that! Sasuke, ya bastard, you too! I bet if Tenten used that move she'd be better at it! Yeah? Well, prove it, they're right there!" Trying to keep everyone focused, and maybe annoy them just a bit to spur them on. He could do this! "Hinata! Sakura-chan! Uh, actually you're doing great, keep at it!"  
Maybe throw in a good note like that every now and again, partly because someone that accurate (did she just get someone on the cliff right in the- _ow,_ yes she did) was not someone you'd want to annoy too much.

Maybe his leadership style and all that stuff the Jounin were nailing into his head would come to him on their own. Certainly he was having more fun right now than he has in any of the fights over the last week. He'd have to believe in them, try his best, and drive the others to do so too. Speaking of which, he turned to the only member of the team still in cover.  
"Shino! I know about your bugs and all, but could you..."

"With all due respect, chuunin, instructions are not necessary." The familiar monotone was not as downcast as he'd feared it would be, the genin even stood up and casually walked out from cover. He was still paler than usual, but his shades flashed with confidence. "Why? Because I have made my move several minutes ago. Observe."

The Aburame pointed towards one of the largest, most dangerous outcroppings, brimming with archers.

At just the right moment, under the right circumstances even the quietest, most easily overlooked of people can grab your attention and command it. This was one of those.  
Naruto and the rest of the team couldn't help but follow where he pointed.

The first to spot it was Sasuke, and a fireball he's been nursing, searing and huge, collapsed in his mouth, leading to watery eyes and a very smokey cough full of surprise.  
"When did you-?" He asked amidst coughing up soot and small black clouds.

"Are those what I think?" Naruto too finally spotted them, unsure if he should believe his eyes.

"Shino, how many have you let out?" Kiba sounded more worried than anything.

"Enough." Shino readjusted his glasses, and peered upwards. Stoic or not, he has expended much too much of himself not to enjoy the sight of his technique bearing fruit.

Hundreds, thousands of tiny creatures marched upward on the stones, unrelenting in their goal. Like an army they coordinated themselves, changed formations. By the time anyone above had any idea of what was going on, too many made it up to the plateau for anyone to dare stop them.  
And like an army, the insects charged ahead with a terrifying unity.

The erupting screams marked for all intents and purposes the end of the battle. Even soldiers, bandits brave enough to fight shinobi didn't have it in them to face the swarm, not after seeing what happened to the first poor sod not to keep his distance.  
Blasts of wind or fire were one thing, but a swarm spoke to something much older in humans, spelling out severe Bad News.

Anyone on the cliff with any brains legged it as fast as they could.

"Ha! Good going, Shino!" The battle seemingly over and with enemies now truly routing, Naruto allowed himself the luxury of impulsiveness, jumping back down to the main deck, and giving a good smack in the back to the man of the hour. Said man nearly fell over, but skillfully turned it into a passable slumping down on the deck.

"Just sit down, and make sure to call all your bugs back, okay?" Naruto continued, and Shino wondered if the chuunin noticed what the maneuver took out of him. These days the blond shinobi was getting less and less blatantly obvious. As he turned around and waved the team over, there was the same energy, and he seemed to have recovered his enthusiasm as well, the insect user observed. "Have something to eat, all of you. After that, Kiba, I want you to check for any damage, Sakura should take stock of the weapons we have and Sasuke, I'll need you to-"

"Tch! The fight is over, no need for you to keep up the act." The Uchiha has, with some difficulty, adjusted to taking orders from his would-be rival but that had its limits. The rest of the team had been focused on the difficulties of the mission, but for him it was full of new, fruitful discoveries.

He had forgotten how much a difference the mark made, how much he instinctively refrained from using his own chakra lest it be a step too far. Back in Konoha, even the worst of training was just that, but here in these numbers, even bandits could push you. Naruto had demanded he set fire to some ridiculous things, and he'd done each without much difficulty.

Time after time a task came that demanded his chakra, needed him to stretch his resources, and he was astonished to find them where they have been before the Exam.  
It was liberating the same way one realises he can stretch and breathe easy again after a broken rib finally heals. The meditations to ward off the blasted thing had worked!  
Once more he felt real strength, one his own!

Aburame of all people cost him the opportunity to test it, and he wasn't so drunk on it as to forget the diligence it demanded of him with the rituals. But his work and dedication to it, however silly it seemed, was paying off, and the last thing he wanted to do with that was let some basic grunt work consume it.  
Strange as it was, right now all he wished for was more than the occasional flash of the old Naruto, one who didn't spend a month with Kakashi, having his head unscrewed. Sasuke had dreaded how his leadership would be, but their masked teacher left even Naruto a bit more methodical, sensible - annoyingly less likely to produce orders that would test Sasuke's skills and re-established limits in reckless battle.

"I have better things to do than play around until the next fight starts." He dismissed whatever task would fall on him, and walked off towards their cabin.

"Oh? Ya tired? Wanna brood someone upstaged ya?" Naruto clearly put a lot of effort into producing the most insufferable grin he's shown yet. Which, in its own way, was a good sign. "That sort of thing never worked out for me."

Sasuke hesitated. If the chuunin was finally finding his legs again, becoming comfortable enough to bicker like when they were genin, it was worth listening to him for a few seconds more.  
"If you ever get anywhere near a point, Dead Last, I suggest you make it."

"Want my point? Well, here it is: I got responsibilities now, and that includes hopin' you're not really as much an asshole as I think you are."  
There seemed to be an odd weight behind the chuunin's words. Far less experience, and nowhere near as bitter, but for once he wasn't emulating Kakashi and calling it leadership, but exercising his own, with his teacher having rubbed off on him a little.

"And if one thing you're not, it's lazy." He continued. "So I'm thinking you want a fight, get better, steal people's techniques with that Sharingan of yours. Tough luck, this is a mission to keep this ship safe. Thing is, I actually agree with you, even if for different reasons than you uppity bastard cooked up."

"Don't pretend you can understand Sasuke-kun!" Their pink-haired teammate tried to get between the rivals, cutting off their glare, but couldn't resist turning to chide the chuunin. "But you have an idea, I take it?"

"Nope! Well, sort of."Naruto's awkward laugh dispelled much of the tension, thankfully. "What I'm gonna have is a chat with the captain, and by the end I should have something hammered out to make your day, if you're looking for a fight."  
He turned back to Sasuke. "So, if you want something more than to brood, get yourself ready. The wise, considerate and thoughtful a leader I am, I might just take you along!"

Sasuke shrugged, but had a hard time hiding a faint grin of his own. After the last week, it was good to see his old teammate surface again, insufferable as Dead Last was, happy to act up and order him around as if it was not completely ridiculous. And ridiculous was something he'd almost missed.  
So for now, he decided to indulge the damn idiot.

"Oh no you don't, not like that!" The authoritative demand was eerily familiar, even if it came from a different source than back at the hospital. "You two want to go off for some big, stupid idea? Good! But you are _not_ leaving me behind, you hear me?!"

And if it meant also tolerating Sakura tagging along, well, he could live with that too.  
Naruto seemed to reach the same conclusion, stroking his chin.

"Well, I guess we could make it like the old missions. Except, uh, without Sensei. And Hinata and the rest watching over the ship…" he seemed strangely deflated for a moment, as if he was caught off guard somehow, but bounced back quickly " … oh well. Now then, I am off to see a man about a plan!"

He raced off downstairs, with the rest of the team preparing for whatever was to come.

* * *

The heart of the _Barge_ was far more complicated a contraption than anything else on the ship. Genius went into hooking up shafts and gears to the thing in just the right way, but what made everything else tick – and hiss, groan, occasionally screech – was unparalleled.

Such an extraordinary thing had extraordinary demands, especially when it was pushed like this: instead of the even, fast output the Kettle was tortured in the slow, stealthy approach forcing its power to pull the heavy vessel without momentum. As such it needed looking after.

And what a work that was! All captains insisted their ships all had personalities, perhaps a soul, even, but with the fuss this thing was making, the care it needed, most would concede this captain before all else could make the claim.  
The creaks and noises all over the ship wasn't an infestation of rats or other creatures, but of steel and gears, the unexplainable not due to boredom and spirits of the liquid kind but driving the ship better than any winds or arms could.

Tending to a thing that complicated, then, was indeed not just maintenance but intimate reconciliation, soothing the misused machine.  
Consequently when the kids' leader barged in with the briefest knock on the door, a visible cringe was a rather kind reaction, all things considered.

"Bah! What do you want?" The captain barked at the intruder.

"Becoming Hokage would be nice" the kid answered happily, evidently unaware of his offence "but I came to have a conversation. An honest one for a change."

There was the simple honesty of someone so young, but something broke the camel's back: the captain watched the inexperienced chuunin begin to crumble under pressure over the last week, but now, he seemed to have come out stronger at the other end.

Strong enough for an honest conversation, perhaps.

"Well, in my experience officers in any group tend to get their way. So be it. But honesty is a two way street, my young friend." He rose from his ministrations of the engine. "And you are the one asking, so you begin the rounds of honesty here. You can begin by telling me why the white-eyed little chit and you have been digging through my cargo."

"You saw us?" Poker was clearly not the young one's game.  
One could read the surprise, maybe a bit of guilt of sorts, then following right after the confusion and embarrassment of having confirmed the suspicion by the answer.

"'Saw' ain't the right word. You ninja folk are pretty damned good, but then so are we captains. And stop sweating, I know about the Uchiha too. First the girl, then you two, and then you and the uppity little fireball-spitter. My guess is she spotted something, showed ya, then he confirmed it."  
The captain settled down on a bench, beckoned Naruto to do the same.

"Now, you don't seem like the thieving sort, and besides, you passed by some real pricey stuff without the same excitement." He continued. "You _are_ from the Village Hidden Up Your Own Righteous Backsides, though, so I thought it'd be something to do with smuggling, but it ain't that neither. An' I saw you stare real intently at the wreck the bastards robbed."

A large hand disappeared in a vest pocket, to return with a flask. A small swig and the man went on.  
"So, I'm gonna make it real simple. You've no obligation to tell me. We can both keep quiet until we reach port – somehow – and part ways." Another swig. The boy was intimidated, of course, but there was this feeling of fellowship the captain hadn't felt in ages. "Or we can keep talkin'. Honestly, like ya said. Besides, I've a right to know, and you know that."

The chuunin sighed, nervously righted his vest. There was a moment of silence, but then…  
"Oh, to hell with it. Granny's gonna kill me, but it's not like you haven't picked it up anyway." The kid grinned – and unusually for people who smiled at the captain, it was with his eyes too, like he wasn't some gigantic, frightening freak show. "Yeah, she sent us to protect ya, but not just from bandits and the like. Someone's been using smugglers to get shady stuff across borders, without even their knowing. Most of that's need to know, though, and even I don't. So that actually covers most of what I can tell you, y'know."

"Bloody Lady's hellfire." The captain commented, wishing he was somewhere he could spit. "Shady shinobi bullshit, just what my life needed. One side coulda just hired me, the other coulda been honest, but noooo. So the stuff you've been buzzing about…"

"All have some nasty liquid metal hidden in, or through them. Everything from hollow gold bricks to complicated summons I've no idea how Hinata managed to spot – but then she's really amazing, y'know." The kid brightened up for a moment, but shook his head and trained a bright pair of azure eyes at the ship's master. "But you said we'd be honest, and it's my turn. Do you really see a way we could get around that damned place, the patrols and the watchtowers?"

Ah, there it was, the dreaded question. The maps, the knowledge, even some scouting from the twerps, and it was down to it.

"If there'd been more rains, the waters were higher… or if we were a lot lighter, maybe I'd know a few more routes, yeah. As is, we're in trouble." The answer came finally, as much to the merchant himself as the chuunin. "'Specially because if I have it right, you're about to do something really dumb, aren't you?"

The kid's laugh was a reminder of far more fun times. He was playing it tough, pressured as hell, but underneath it, one could still see the kid practically shaking to just be outside the walls.

"Hehehe, maybe. If Granny's gonna yell at me anyway, might as well give her a lot to go on, y'know?" The light, cheery expression didn't fade, exactly, but suddenly seemed to take back-stage to the considerations of command. Quieter, the kid continued. "But here's the thing. It really is stupid. Or risky anyway. So if you know any other routes on the river…"

The captain just shook his head.

"… then I gotta make a decision. It's about taking a risk to reduce another and so on, straight out of my lessons. And ya know what? It's plain not worth it, beyond what we're actually supposed to do." The height and age difference seemed to disappear for a moment, differences set aside; right now, fleeting, the engine room had just two men discussing a hard truth. "To order everyone else into danger, I gotta make sure there's a proper reason for that, and a mission like this isn't enough."

The awkward silence deepened as the captain took another swig, the chuunin inspected a tool to give himself something else to do.

"Now that being said" the chuunin continued "if there was reason, if we became safer because of that risk, that would make all the difference. And say what you will about obligations, there was a whole bunch of stuff you could have warned us about but didn't, for who knows what reason. So you gotta make up for that, there's gonna be a pricetag."

"Greed, then? That's a language I can speak." The captain made a face. And hoped the kid really just wanted money.

"Oh, I don't want money, know better. Like I said, it's to make sure my people are safer than they were before I put their skin on the line."

" What do you want, then?" Eyes well used to haggling for coin scanned the young face for telltale signs far too late.

"An honest answer to a question when we get back." The blue eyes were alive with a fire, the sort the captain remembered once having.

The captain thought for a second, then relented.  
"Done. But I better not regret this, brat!"

They shook hands on that.  
There was much left to work out.

* * *

Vertigo grips even the best trained of shinobi, but the trick is to keep moving too fast for it to catch up to you. Or so the Academy always insisted. Then again they had also given some clear expectations of the ninja life ahead, and the last few months have taught Sakura that most of them didn't actually apply.

 _It really was supposed to be so much simpler!_ She couldn't help but tell herself. _Do a few years as a genin, learn the ropes, get better and advance, hopefully before most of the so called elites._

The door slid open noiselessly, a small payoff for the days she had to spend getting the basic, introductory noise-muffling technique just right. In less time than it took to blink the two shinobi scanned the contents of the room, and before the occupant had time enough to react, she was already vaulting over the table while Sasuke secured the exit behind them.  
If they were too quick for the average non-chakra-using bandit, hardened by years of hard fighting to properly react to, this poor fellow hardly stood a chance. But the training of the past month was quick to remind her to scrub out that stray thought. It was best not to think of their victim in those terms.

So where was she? Oh right, ruminations on the way things ought to have happened.  
 _Yeah, like making sure those 'oh I'm soo special' clan elites would get a nice serving of humble pie! And in doing so impressing and getting together with Sasuke, then rubbing it in Ino's dumb, pig-like, blonde pretty girl face!_

Her target barely began scurrying, picking up a knife, and if not for her twisting it out of sausage-like fingers, he would have cut himself badly as he slipped on a stray scroll.

 _And there was still room to do all that. It's better to look at all the things that have gone well!_ She reminded herself in what she could only think of as the more sober mental tone, quickly righting the fall of an adult by the looks of it six times her weight and four times her age. _I've been slotted on the same team as Sasuke, we had some real bonding together, adventures and experience well beyond what most genin get! And look at it! Here we are now, just the two of us…_

She propped up the chair with her foot, and used chakra to counteract the sheer difference in size and basic body strength to shove the guy into it.  
Sasuke approached calmly and fixed one richly decorated robe sleeve to the chair's arm with a kunai, she held another arm behind a massive, sweaty back and held their victim's own knife against the soft series of chins he'd call his throat.

 _Damn right! I bet Sasuke liked that!_ Self-satisfaction came back at the successful manoeuvre. _Screw the expectations or the mission ranking, I can do this! Of course, no thanks to that lazy deadbeat of a sensei whose only help since the tree climbing was to fetch me someone who would actually teach me something! Or that dumbass who got made chuunin, trusted us with half of the job and went off to have all the fun fighting!_

"Greetings." Sasuke's neutral tone was the first real noise made in the room over the last few seconds. "You have some information that you will surrender to us. How that will be done is your choice."

Relieved that Sasuke showed the simple, professional method of interrogation straight out of the Academy, with no sign of the darker aura that sometime still showed up in a nightmare, Sakura was relaxed enough to continue her earlier train of thought.

 _Well, I want to be fair to my sensei, don't I?_ She felt like chiding herself for the earlier thought. _He had no more an idea things would go this way than anyone else, and we barely began operating a team as is. I'm sure in time he would help me, him getting Kurenai-sensei's help was the single most interesting thing I experienced so far, and against that monster with the sand ability, of course he would prioritise Sasuke-kun's training. And even Naruto did that for our and the mission's benefit._

She let the unravelling interrogation become a background noise, looked over all the papers, letters and scrolls scattered about. Soon enough it'd be her job to skim them over.

 _I do wonder why doesn't Sasuke-kun just use his Sharingan to induce hypnosis._ She allowed herself the small doubt and wonder, but a new thought, smelling opportunity came barging in. _But never mind that! He probably just doesn't want to let the enemy know what they are up against, if the fights hadn't yet given it away. More importantly it means it's down to little ol' Sakura to make the difference, use the damn jutsu from the scroll on something more than that frightened animal at port!_

"Come on, you little shit, is that all you got?" Their captive half-groaned, half replied with grit teeth, voice boiling with indignant anger, volume only tempered by the knife.

"If I were you, I wouldn't anger my teammate." She whispered in some waxy ears. "He is so very kind, and cool and cute and…. the point is, you better do as he asks, before we get really started." Producing a gleeful, just slightly crazy voice like that was her first foray into the theatrical aspects of genjutsu. Not exactly to her taste, but Kurenai-sensei demonstrated how well it could work.

"What, the little boy will strike me again? I dare you to look at the lashing marks on my back, you little bitch!" Almost a pride in that tone, Sakura noted. "I guarantee your imagination isn't sufficient to get anything out of me!"

"You underestimate my imagination." Sasue said simply.

"And you have such tunnel vision. Pain is just one, simple tool to use." Sakura added. A little more glee, almost to the point of sadism – she made use of the image of that crazy woman snatching away her Sasuke-kun to work herself up, imagine the things she'd loved to have done, and the delivery came alive. "I have so many tools and tricks to try out! Smoke bombs that have you taste the sound of the colour green until your mind shuts down out of self-defence, ones that make you want to vomit out of your ears, and oh so many little wonders to render you quite, quite mad! And those are some of the most mundane ones."

She carried on, noting the gear Kurenai-sensei had given her and Ino sounded rather shady with the right embellishments.

"What would happen if we made you swallow one, have it go off inside your stomach? I don't know, but if you don't work with S- with my dear teammate, you might just give me the opportunity to learn! Maybe I could make you share the last sensations from the toxins, if nothing else?"

Their captive spat out with pride, muttered that they wouldn't dare risk whatever they were trying to learn from him die with such an act, but the idea got to him, Sakura was sure of it.  
Okay, half of her wanted to take a long bath after the threats, but another liked actually working with Sasuke, loved sharing in the task, however nasty.

It also gave her the direction to go to, the very same she'd been entertaining earlier. True, they wouldn't risk coming through with the smoke bombs, but something else to a similar effect, well, that would be just the thing!

It certainly seemed like a little genjutsu would make a world's difference here. Her training hadn't come with the showy skills she had been hoping for despite the warning, but a situation like this, she could make it work.

She just needed to get together the puzzle pieces, find a creative enough use for a technique invented for a fundamentally much more base purpose… and use it to break down the mental defences of a civilian.  
That wish for a bath came back again.

 _Well, the shinobi business isn't always pretty._ She repeated the platitude, gathering her thoughts and discipline. She breathed deeply and found focus in the frustration of it all.  
 _Damn right it isn't! The Academy or Kakashi-sensei never prepared me for this! Naruto just trusted us to get our job done, spared nary a thought of what that would involve! And this guy just spat at my Sasuke-kun! What a damn jerk! Bastards, the lot of them!_

 _…_

 _What are the chances of Sasuke-kun agreeing, ditching the whole shinobi nonsense and escaping together for a romantic life somewhere remote?_

 _Negligible._

 _Then let's get on with the jutsu._

Mind finally at ease she sighed, shrugged and concentrated on trying to get the technique right, the back of her mind still calming the cavalcade of memories of the last few hours, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

* * *

The fight at the deck was exhilarating!

She finally had a chance to shine, show what she's mastered! Their enemies panned the attack well, the rock formations were just the right kind, and clearly they thought in high enough numbers, at range, not even shinobi could withstand a barrage.  
Chakra or the best of reflexes are only so much defence, and a successful hit got you just the same as a normal person.

Well, they hadn't counted on someone dedicating themselves to being able to hit some very well-hidden, dangerous targets even at great distances. For once it was her in the limelight, saving everyone else's backsides!

After having to play nice at being saved by Kiba of all people, after those damn melees where she could do little but the basics, after Naruto's cheerful mention that Shikamaru had thought of her idea of floating traps being sent downriver already AND the humiliation of failing to get them to work on this messy a river, it was her time!

Of course Shino went and made a big show at the very end, wrong as that sounded, but she still had a moment of blissful, weapon-throwing fun and excellence, and no one could take that away.  
Adrenaline ruled those moments, and she was damned if she wasn't going to seek it out again, enough that she was willing to forgive being almost left out as the rival teammates would go off without her, on the condition that she was, in fact, coming along.

What she ended up coming along for first, though, was a briefing on need to know information… administrated by the orange buffoon himself.

Admittedly Naruto's presentation of ideas has gotten better under Kakashi-senei's care (and he's gotten a bit more patient due to time spent with that Hinata girl, if Sakura's instincts were correct), but neither influence really possessed nor passed on an aptitude for actually making sure the team understood them.  
Kakashi-sensei was usually brief enough that he'd trust his shorthand given out over his little book sufficed, whereas the other was, well, Hinata.

 _"So the thing is, ya really, really can't mention this to anyone."_ Naruto's explanation rang out in the memory. " _'Sides Sasuke and Hinata who were looking around the ship for a while._ "

" _The Captain himself seems relatively clean, but some of his smuggled cargo contains what we were looking for._ " Sasuke explained. _"We have confirmation of the materials, but not the scope of their presence on the trading route. With the amount of ships being looted, we might get a larger sample. And since an attack on their base is in order in any case, we will make use of it._ "

" _I was gonna grab a bunch of stuff myself while we were fighting, and have you two help me figure it all out later, but since it's this way, let's split it properly."_ Like before, Naruto was too energetic to just stand still, he was practically vibrating with eagerness in a way neither of his teammates have seen since the beginning of the mission.

" _And it just so happens that your part has all the overt action._ " Sasuke observed dryly. " _Make my day indeed._ "

" _Hey, I can attest that Itachi guy liked his sneaking about, 'cause not even Ero-Sennin spotted him coming. Besides his whole distraction thing I mean._ " Naruto shrugged in reply. " _The way I see it not since the bell test did ya smugly show off how good you are at that, star pupil, yadda yadda. So off you go. Look out for any papers, maps of their territory, letters, y'know, and grab those too. Granny wouldn't have sent us here if she knew what was going on around here, so she's going to yell at the people responsible for gathering info who screwed up. I'd, uh, like not to be among them._ "  
He finished, awkwardly scratching his temple.

Later on, preparations done, ship left behind and target approaching in the distance; she was unsure how to feel about it all.  
Be offended she wasn't in the know? Ashamed she didn't put the present signs together? She preferred being relieved that she knew the reason why Sasuke had been avoiding her advances all mission; clearly he was burdened by duty.

She'd have to smack Naruto about the head for that at some point, but for now, they had a target and a plan. Surprisingly un-overcomplicated from Naruto too, so she ought not to hit him too hard, lest she undo whatever has been sorting that mess out.

A simple distraction within a distraction, something like that was actually feasible. Have the enemy on the defence and off-balance, make use of that very same move not just to further the overall mission but to slip in and do a subtler job as well.  
Compared to some other plans of the guy, yeah, feasible really was the right word.

She knew about the location, the story of the place and the castle built here.  
When the senses of Team Eight slowly but surely charted the patrols of their enemy, it was surprisingly Shino who suggested the fortress as the logical base of operations. She was used to being the voice of reason to hold the horses of someone like Naruto or Kiba, but with someone who made _her_ look rushed, she had to actually entertain the idea. Even then, it wasn't until a small expedition by an insect, followed by the covert venture of a clone to confirm the theory that she gave in.

However they did it, the bandits had captured one of the more notable buildings in the region, giving some credence to Naruto more and more treating them like a rouge army, not just highly organised thugs.

Still she shuddered to think how that capture must have gone. This entire area was said to be the product of a grand battle of a Senju of old wielding water like the Second would generations later, hashing it out against an ancestor of one of the clans that was the backbone of the Hidden Stone to this day.

The tale went that it was their mastery of jutsu that turned the hills leading up the mountains up north into, well, the rocky jungle they've been traversing.  
Running, jumping, leaping across the tortured landscape at this heart of struggling stone and water with the team, she could certainly imagine that fight of old.

It took but your mind knowing the legend to stop seeing arms of the river carving out stone islands as just that, and see them as aftermaths of the fight: masses of water bent to will, restlessly eroding the stone pillars until their eventual collapse, the rocks piling up and welling up the waters, stopping their flow in an effort to tame them, all resulting in a shifting balance of victories and losses, with a small ravine carved or an arm of the river forced into underground submission.

Those who knew the history of the place found their eyes spotting details and filling the story of the battle: a rising stab with a stone fang avoided this way, a lake's worth of water used to undermine a glorious earth structure that way.

Each little wonder of geography came to play a part, and here at the epicentre of it all, where one could all but see a legendary figure make his stand to wage war with the very earth, on the largest of the enormous pillars was a castle built.

Shinobi had their own perspectives of danger and regular folks theirs, but even with that difference, the place commanded respect and seemed all but impenetrable by mundane means.

True, a sharp eye could spot signs of damage and recent repair, charred sections of the wall marring the artistic and military wonder. But it still wore the air of a noble building, an achievement that wasn't just built on a historic place, but itself a part and shaper of it.

Thus their assault felt like a rude slap in the face of all that.  
More so was the fact that said assault was done by an army dressed in a ridiculous shade of orange, popped into existence past most natural and artificial defences and easily leapt over the rest, right onto the walls, generally making a mockery of a proud castle that crushed generals and halted victorious campaigns – except those led by people wise enough to be willing to cough up the money needed for shinobi to do a job that crazy.

* * *

Up until then things were working perfectly fine.

Well, depending on how she looked at things they were still fine, of course, although every bit as much outside her degree of experience as the entire rest of the mission.  
But hey! Three years or so, maybe four, and this sort of thing might even seem routine!

"Urgh! You've no idea what enemies you've made!" Another series of furious curses followed, and Sakura had quite enough. She had the jutsu almost sorted, and just had enough of this to not mind the crude way into the man's mind she had to make at her skill level.

Predictably he strained with rage and Sakura was quick to react. Her grip tight on the wrist, she pulled, turned and twisted quick as she could, clasping her other hand on their prisoner's mouth to muffle the scream further and yanked him back to his chair.  
Trying to shake the memories of tortured ligaments under her hands, she followed Sasuke's example and fixed the other arm too to the chair's arm with a kunai through the robe's sleeve.

Hands free for a sign and the victim's mind busy processing the pain, she knew it was the right time.

"Genjutsu: Strings of the Heart!" The technique's name came out as more a thought than a whisper, her mind struggled to keep up with the sensations from something far more complex than the beast at the port, but she made the connection.

Now would come the hard part. An illusion not visual, aural or any of the rest; this was pure, simple, terrifying and directly emotional. It needed control skills pushing even her knack, and chakra in dizzying measure, a remarkable if rarely seen technique.

Enough power behind it can overwhelm the mind and make someone collapse merely of fear, but have control enough, be creative enough with it, and for a short time it can manipulate on a profound level.  
Enhance some emotions, muffle others, provoke intense rage, fear or any of the myriad feelings in a person – and if her fight against Kiba has shown anything, it's that even simple knowledge of character and emotions is weapon enough.

She knew if she used it right, this technique would loosen the tongue of their captive, let them proceed with their part of the mission, she just needed to get it right

 _And no, I am not even going to consider using it on Sasuke-kun to make him like me._ She added, more or less just to quell her own wandering thoughts. _I've got better ways of going about that, thank you ever so much._  
She huffed and quietly bit down on a soldier pill to prepare before fully turning her attention to the technique.

The sensation was new: when she tried it previously, the mind was an animal's flat, blunt, instinctive thing. This on the other hand was a realm expansive and colourful, with emotions as new as the pain in the arm or as old as half-forgotten, spiteful grudges from childhood.  
The surface stirred at the moment with thoughts zapping across its horizons and bringing a new mix, but go deeper, and an interconnected web lay: the emotional dressing of the thoughts and memories she had no access to.

Already she was feeling how brute force could shut down this intricate a system. A bit less than that, with a bit tighter control and she could make him foam at the mouth with rage or have him laugh like a lunatic, a crude and direct effect, if only for a short time. But neither really summed up what she needed, what would make this unknown person malleable.

The surface was easy enough to manipulate. Feel out and pang the chords of emotion, observe the sweat drops forming with fear; she just had to be careful in her victim's mind or risk worsening the situation. Direct use in combat was one thing, but a finer instrument was needed here.

She burrowed below the current fear, anger pain and what must have been hurt pride, tried to get at the real thing of motivation, figure out the twisted swirling nets and connections.  
Like the exercises, she needed but one small thread to start working on, to follow and make use of.

The harsh and violent feelings were in the forefront, a danger to mess with – but what was the mood before Sasuke-kun and she barged in?  
If only she could establish a ground state to work from, the root of it all and the single, key thread of consciousness, she'd crack the defences easily.

Not that she didn't already have her inklings. 'Underneath the underneath', a month's awareness training via genjutsu, or simple intuition, it all added up.

* * *

Reverence, loyalty and dedication.  
She knew all of them in one form or another, but the show inside the fortress was an overstatement of all three.

At the time, her own emotions at the time took preference, of course.  
The satisfaction in excellence as she and Sasuke shadowed one of the early returning patrols to a back entry, giddiness when he nodded with approval as instead of braving the chasm with a leap, she fashioned a tightrope from a well-aimed kunai and some wire.  
There was even some fleeting worry for their teammate as the bells tolled their warnings and bright red fireworks signalled emergency far and wide – they expected it, hoped for it even, but knew the battle would be difficult on Naruto.

Still, when did it get to be so that they could rely on him, worried or not?  
It wasn't so long ago that he couldn't make the transformations he now relied on to make th attack seem like it was the whole team, after all. But things changed quickly, ad Sakura wouldn't let herself fall behind.

Once inside, they were a picture of professionalism and teamwork that would have made Kakashi-sensei shed a tear: they both clung to the ceilings and the shadows, looking out for one another.  
They put to use all lessons of infiltration on the work of shadows and stepping just right, she picked a lock while he kept watch and he pulled her into a locker when she was too slow to react to someone turning around the corner and almost surprising her – and inside that tight, dark place, even all tangled together, she refrained herself from doing anything untoward. Talk about the control of a future mistress of genjutsu, eh?

But in retrospect, trying to distinguish the feeling of the place with what she later on saw in mind, it all rearranged itself.

The smell in the barracks wasn't quite right, for instance.  
Something strange was on the air, not at all the stench of cheap booze she expected – her own father's only vice were terrible puns that made you cringe, but the expectation went naturally with any dwelling of soldiers. At the time she just moved on, but now, that stood out like a sore thumb.

She concentrated, recalled, set aside the unimportant and focused on the little signs all over the memories. They'd observed aplenty, and it was now time to put it all to use.

The insides of the castle felt like a disturbed anthill, but wasn't in as bad a shape as a bandit takeover would have you expect.

The hallways were well-swept and clean if, well, re-decorated, and leaving the barracks behind, they found the servant wing populated, with poor worried souls milling about and ordered around, not sure where to go for safety in the attack.

They seemed to come from all walks of life, old and young, mostly women, but a few men too, and however they ended up serving this lot, just a few marks showed signs of what they were before: merchants clearly used to more comforts, wiry labourers, people almost comfortable, as if little changed in their personal world of cleaning the halls of the powerful.  
They all did share just one innocuous little sign always on their person, however.

At the time, trying to find their way she couldn't give a damn about it. They had to include it on their transformations to try to blend in, but she'd have forgotten beyond assuming the form if not for its presence all over the place, not just the garments.  
It was badly painted over exquisite paintings, masterful metalworks were badly bent into its rough shape, she even saw someone's attempt to chisel fine masonry in its form.

But what did it mean? The shinobi villages certainly had their own symbols, as did the clans. It could be something derived from someone's name, some grand cause, it could mean anything from refined and deep expressions to just the simple need to put something on a flag. It could be a new ideology of some sort, a religious call, someone's rich bastard trying to eke out a domain or coming back to claim some title, the banner of a mercenary group or that of the one bandit group that united all the smaller ones into a real fighting force.

With a shrug, she started to understand why, despite the immense power differences, shinobi never really bothered with trying to secure a direct hold over the elemental nations: it was best to stay out of all this political nonsense unless someone was paying you to get involved, and at that point, likely in a fun way.  
Whichever was the case, the bloody thing's importance was beyond dispute.

So what else was there?

Beyond the barracks, now in the servant wing they disguised themselves as brother and sister. At the time it was to explore the castle, but as they did so, made sure they behaved like they fitted in, they noticed exactly the kinds of things she was now after.

The servants' gestures and movements did reveal their own sad little tales. Black eyes and bruises, the odd limp here and there were commonplace, and in some she still observed the reflexive cringe when a bandit-turned soldier barked something at them. Yet, in their expressions there was no sign of fear, or of hatred, merely a cowed reverence that made her shudder.

She went over all the bits of odd behaviour they'd seen in their initial observations, all bearing all too similar faces. That was a start, but she needed more to go on.

She remembered the troops running through the corridor, the quick and efficient herding that swept her and Sasuke along, out of the way into a side room.  
For a moment the only nearby soldiers were just those rushing by too quickly to look at them, and the people were too worried to filter their behaviour. The meek and fearful subjects became regular people again, if only for a moment.

"Watch where you step, you oaf!" One voice in the crowd protested with the weight and authority of many a year. "I'll have you know my feet have plenty of feeling in 'em still!"

"Don't push me, I say! These ointments are for the wounded and it will be my hide if I break them!" A fussy female voice shot back.

"Mommy, when will the bad people go away?" A small voice made itself heard, noticed only by Sakura and a mother hushing and calming it with a worried expression.

"What is even happening? I was just done mopping up the floor!"

"I told you all the Feudal Lord wouldn't stand for this!" A voice, carefully undetectable in the crowd said to some murmur. "Now they're here again and kill us all, burn everything down and…"

Sakura made her own move too, letting trails of tears run down her face, and in a comfort-seeking hug managed to exchange a few words without anyone being suspicious.

"Sasuke-kun, I have an idea." She whispered while he awkwardly patted her chestnut hair as if to calm her down. "Naruto said the ronin was insistent he served a master still. That does seem to fit…"

"…even if it is nothing like what we would call normal in the Land of Fire." He finished for her while she began softly sobbing into his chest, covering up their exchange. "And if this master has a military commander like that, servants with clear and organised duties…"

"..there would be others, serving just as they would a legitimate lord. People who would have precisely the knowledge we are after." Her tightening hug, she had to admit, wasn't expressly for her acting the frightened little sister, but she did make sure to add the series of soft, ragged gasps for breath that come with a good sob. "And if the castle is built anything like they are back home, I have an idea where we need to go. I've seen the messenger birds' nests from the outside, and we know where the servants' quarters and the kitchen is. And right in the sweet spot between those…"

"You will find the clerks. Very well, let's see if this works." Sasuke stood up and helped her get up as well, wiping the tears off her face in a move that almost made her forget it was part of their act.

And this, right there, was the crucial moment, the one Sakura had been trying to recall, the one that made the blood in her veins feel like ice water, that showed her what she was dealing with – and also the reappearance of the ronin Naruto mentioned so often.

From the descriptions and glimpses of the enemy commander she caught at their first fight from afar, she could recognise the man, but not from much more. His armour was a heavy new one, painted matte black and radiating chakra that made the hairs at the back of her neck stand on edge.  
His twin cleavers gone, he seemed to have replaced them with a polearm of some sort, like a stockier, shorter naginata, which he balanced on his shoulders, stopping for a step to take a look at the crowded subjects.

His appearance was threatening, but far more so was his effect on the crowd. As one of the boarders he seemed little more than one of his men, but here, fulfilling a function of command and oversight, he was terrifying.  
Bickering and chatter ceased as if the very concept was stripped away from those he watched, a number of the servants touched the symbol on their person and averted their gaze.

It was different from the sudden silence of authority showing up. It was different than the few sharp words Sensei had used on them back in the hospital. It was different than the tense silence back at the bridge.

This was filled with guilt, the simple show of humanity revealed as not a thing of normalcy, trying to relieve stress and find a semblance of security while your home is attacked – instead it was, it seemed and felt like a crushing failure, a slip back to an old, half-forgotten life.

That moment passed with the last of the soldiers, the crowd dispersed around them, and the duo slipped back into the shadows at the first opportunity.  
Sakura had her confirmation.

* * *

Emotions on the surface and suppressed, old and new alike stretched out before her.  
She knew what she was looking for, trying to match up what felt right the right mixture of feelings.

There may have been conviction here, but it was expected of all, on a deep level. Dedication beyond servitude, loyalty to something represented in an odd symbol, reverence for its enforcers conquering the heart, not just the mind.

She knew nothing of ideologies beyond the Land of Fire, the Will of Fire and the beliefs of the occasional monastery, and she was making a leap in her conclusion, but she was dead sure that all of this added up to something of that sort, and a weird one at that.

More importantly she'd sooner eat her headband than to believe that most of these people didn't join up recently. Further articles of clothing would be digested if it was all voluntary and peaceful too.

So what would it all add up to?  
Guilt was obvious, fear, maybe a reward of one kind of another… for her purposes, she spotted the right impulse to manipulate: right after a great deal of pain, worry and anger not too long ago left their mark, something new evolved.  
A carefully balanced loathing of the self and someone else, whoever broke her captive the first time.

It was frightening how simple it was to take the fear and pain she and Sasuke caused and disrupt that balance, weighing it against that tormentor.  
One little change in balance easily leads to another, and soon a whole fabric unweaed itself before her. Connect the current troubles to that one act of trauma and conversion, and all the little hurts, annoyances and wants shift in direction.

She knew genjutsu was powerful and that she was talented, but she was smart enough to know it couldn't all just be her doing. She disturbed an artificial stillness and peace of spirit, uncorked the wrong, or possibly the right thing. Rage, joy, pity and sadness danced about wildly in that skull with her control over the system failing, a long forgotten lost love surfaced and was suppressed again, grudges let go, obligations flailed around, hostility and vindictiveness renewed, joviality and the vaults of pleasures let loose.

With a gasp she surfaced back in reality, the link of the jutsu unable to comprehend the vortex she kicked off, her mind still buzzing with the leaked over sensations. Subtle action while manipulating someone else's mind was indeed preferable, just like sensei said, if for no other reason than that the damn things could kick right back.

"All right, all right you damned little bastard!" Her victim finally spoke after the long-seeming few moments she spent in his mind. "If it helps hurt this congregation of manic, traitorous crazymen, I'll tell you everything you need to know. But you have to get me out of here too. I'll not suffer the wrath of the Acolyte."

"You have a deal. But I will not have you slowing us down." Sasuke crossed his arms and stared down the clerk with impressive authority from someone his age. "The one way I can offer you to come with us will likely be unpleasant."

"Ha! Unpleasant, he says! I'll take it, just let my arms free. Now, what were you after?"

Genjutsu was bizarre, difficult and immensely rewarding to study, Sakura thought.  
But looking at the shift the jutsu did on the man, she did understand the nervous exchange of looks her parents tried to hide from her when she told them what she would be specialising in.

Who knew poking around in people's mental faculties could get creepy, eh?

* * *

 _A short time earlier_

* * *

Another predator navigated the winds, with a grace all its own and eye fixed on its target.

It perched on the proud spot, a sign of either woeful arrogance or a proud statement of victory.

One could almost believe the defences, walls and all was truly its own, but a discerning eye spotted the artistic handiwork of the help to accomplish such a feat.  
Anyone could break in, like the predator was about to do, anyone could get at the treats under the shells of this beast.

The real question was the 'why' for any of the capable, and the 'how' for those inclined.  
The predator's lips cracked into a tight, small grin, knowing that it would get a step closer to its true target tonight, have another piece of the puzzle.

But for now a moment of observation was in order, taking in the marred and charred, but still beautiful sight of the fortress at the Turtle, the valiant rock formations of a noble struggle against a villain, and the efforts of what occupied the fort to control its surroundings.

Patrols, ships and fortifications sprung up since the last time it had laid eyes on the area. Like tentacles ever searching for food, armed parties scoured the river and forests even at this hour.

But before it made its plummet, this predator decided to be cautious. Something was amiss, something not quite – _ah._

It wasn't the only one after the target tonight.

The trio was valiant, but inexperienced in their approach, and their method so simple it was charming. A large attack with clones at the front, albeit in impressive numbers, while the other two slipped in by the back.

And as if the beast was crying out in pain, the alarm, the fireworks drew the patrols back to fend off the attacker – enough to let an ugly ship pass by undetected.

The predator watched, considering options while watching the flashes and movements of the battle below. Caution was needed, and some more assurances, but in this hunt, it was the more, the merrier.

"Interesting." It said simply.

A small adjustment of plans was perhaps in order.


End file.
